Category: Book Review

Eric Liddell. The Disciplines of the Christian Life. Echristian Books, 2011. 160 pp. $9.98.

 

            Eric Liddell was the Olympic track champion who, in 1924, refused to race on a Sunday, but who later set a world record in the 400m. His life inspired the movie “Chariots of Fire.” Liddell was also a passionate follower of Jesus Christ who served as a missionary in China until his death during World War II.

 

            In The Disciplines of the Christian Life, Liddell shares some of the basic knowledge and practices that should be present in the life of a believer in order for that person to grow.

 

Positives

 

            ON the positive side, it is a simple joy to read the thoughts of this believer who let go of so much worldly fame to take the gospel to China. Liddell does a fine job of offering wise counsel and simple theology for converts to easily grasp. He even cautions well against taking his disciplines so seriously as to become legalistic about them.

 

Negatives

 

            Like any work, Liddell’s doctrine will not fit with every Christian. For example, Liddell teaches infant baptism, which will not fit well with some denominations. I also would have liked greater clarity from the author in his discussion of the fact that man is made in God’s image or in the doctrine of the atonement. However, this work is short and Liddell is not attempting to be Wayne Grudem, and so I certainly believe that discerning readers will find much in the book to enjoy.

 

Recommendation

 

            I would happily recommend The Disciplines of the Christian Life to anyone who is fascinated by Liddell’s story or who would find it inspiring to see how a missionary to China in the early twentieth century taught his converts to follow God. Believers who wish to be challenged to grow and to be committed to their growth also will benefit from this book.

 

Audio

 

            As part of their reviewers program, I listened to the excellent audio version of this work produced by ChristianAudio.com. Simon Vance did an outstanding job reading this short text, even using a sweet accent in the process.

James MacDonald. Lord Change Me. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2012. 224 pp. 10.87.

 

            We all need to change. For the Christian, change, repentance, will be a part of our lives until the day that we stand before our Lord face-to-face. Sadly, for many, we have no plan for change and no process we intend to work through to accomplish life-impacting change. James MacDonald’s book, Lord Change Me, is a helpful tool that believers can use to wade into the process of change.

 

Positives

 

            MacDonald writes very well on the issue of change. I specifically found his handling of the issue of repentance to be strong. Unlike many modern authors, MacDonald does not merely address one aspect of repentance such as new thinking or behavioral change; instead, he addresses repentance from a broader and more biblical view.

 

            I would also add, among many positives, that MacDonald does the church a service by calling Christians to rely on God’s Spirit, to take intentional action, and to have godly friends in order to walk through the process of change.

 

Negatives

 

            There is little negative about this work. At points during the work, I felt that MacDonald left a bit too much of a door open to a “name it, claim it” view of change. I know, however, that this is not MacDonald’s teaching and is rather simply an impression that some of the language gave me. I also found MacDonald’s few comments in his book regarding the struggles that he had while working on “The Elephant Room” conference to be unhelpful.

 

Recommendation

 

            I would eagerly recommend Lord Change Me for Christians who are ready to work on their lives for the glory of God. This book would make a useful group Bible study resource or an excellent tool for one-on-one discipleship. Yes, it has a negative or two—or it could be taken wrongly in places—but the book is stronger than its weaknesses, which is the best we can say for any book that is not the Bible.

 

Audio

 

For the purposes of this review, I listened to the excellent audio version of this book provided by ChristianAudio.com as part of their reviewers program. Listeners to this book will find that the reading is very good, easy to listen to, and meeting Christian Audio’s high standards.

Matt Chandler and Jared C. Wilson. The Explicit Gospel. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 240 pp. $11.18.

 

                Matt Chandler’s The Explicit Gospel is a sweet look at the good news of Jesus Christ from more than one angle. Chandler challenges his readers to look at the gospel from both an individual (what he calls on the ground) and global (what he calls in the air) perspective.

Positives

                The strength of this book is in the gospel content. Chandler uses both a “God, Man, Christ, Response” model of explaining the gospel as well as a “Creation, Fall, Reconciliation, Consummation” model. It is a good thing for believers to see the gospel from these two angles, the former pointing to the theology of individual redemption and the latter pointing to the ultimate story of God’s plan for the world. In both explanations, Chandler communicates the truth of scripture with clarity and refreshing sweetness.

                Chandler also wisely points out many common weaknesses in our gospel understanding. He shows us how, if we focus too strongly on the individual or global perspectives, we will pervert our understanding of the gospel. He also challenges his readers not to give into our common temptation to believe a grace-based gospel but to live as though our salvation were works-based.

Negatives

                I found two areas that made this book less than perfect in my view. First and foremost is Chandler’s dealing with the issue of creation at the beginning of part 2 of this work. Chandler claims to hold to “historic creationism,” a position which allows for a great passage of time in the opening phrase of Genesis 1:1. This position is Chandler’s way of believing in a literal 6-day creation, while allowing room for an old-earth view. I believe the author’s position here to be incorrect and to open the door to theological errors that are more significant. I might not give this problem a full paragraph did Chandler not spend so much time in his book defending his view.

                Another much smaller problem that I had with the book was an occasional earthiness to Chandler’s language that seems out-of-place. The example that comes to my mind is in the look at the life of Job. Chandler uses a line I have heard other preachers use to describe God’s confrontation of Job, telling Job that he needs to “put on a cup” to face what is coming. This is not by any means a wrong thing to say, but it does take the conversation to a slightly more crass level than some might appreciate.

Conclusion

                Much is very right with The Explicit Gospel. For a more mature Christian who is willing to think critically about the arguments raised in this book, especially that regarding creation, the book is a solid reminder of important truth. The challenge to see the gospel from a ground-level and an aerial view is quite valuable. However, even though I was blessed and encouraged by Chandler’s writing, I would only recommend this book with reservations, as the issue with the creation argument is, in my view, significant.

Audio

                I received an audio copy of this book to review as part of the reviewers program at ChristianAudio.com. The book is very well-read and pleasant to hear.

Elyse Fitzpatrick. Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011. 216 pp. $10.19.

 

                I have to confess, I did not know whether or not to expect to like Give them Grace. I’ve read so many parenting books as a biblical counseling student and as a pastor that I could not imagine wanting to read one more. Elyse Fitzpatrick surprised me. This is an excellent little book that puts a well-defined, biblically-rich gospel presentation at the center of how we parent our children.

 

                Fitzpatrick does not write her book as another how-to-parent guide. She instead centers all that she recommends parents do on the gospel. For example, when parents see their children doing good things, this is an opportunity for them to remind their children that this is Christlike, but it is also not what makes them right with God. When parents see their children doing wrong things, it is an opportunity to remind children that we all do wrong things, and that Christ is our only hope. I have never read a book that does such a good job of keeping our need for Christ and his grace at the center of parenting conversations.

 

                On the down side, not all the recommended conversations in the book sound like conversations I could picture myself having. Some of the recommended things to say are just too perfect. However, I do not consider this to be something that really detracts from the book. We all know that we cannot script our conversations with our children. Fitzpatrick does a great job for us in attempting to lay out some conversational guidelines that we all should be bright enough to tailor to our own words and communication style.

 

                I will be recommending this book highly to parents. It challenged me to consider how the gospel of Jesus impacts my own life on a day-to-day basis. It helped me to consider how to praise and correct my children with Christ at the center. It reminded me that the sovereign God, not my parenting skill, is the One who will save my children if they are saved. There is correction, joy, pain, and comfort in this work that I think any growing Christian parent can benefit from.

 

                I received a free audio copy of this work from ChristianAudio.com as part of their reviewers program. It was beautifully read by Tavia Gilbert, who may have just become my favorite ChristianAudio.com narrator.

Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples. Nashville: B&H Books, 2006. 272 pp. $12.94.

 

                Do we need another stat-filled book offering churches another way to organize themselves in order to maximize their effectiveness, reach more people, heighten fellowship, stir excitement, encourage evangelism, and all the rest? It would be nice if we had no use for such works; but the fact is, we do. Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger have collaborated to bring to us a work that is by no means earth-shattering, yet is somehow hitting a note that many of us miss. I’m not a big fan of the Church Growth Movement, but I like what Rainer, head of Lifeway Christian Resources, sets before us in the pages of this work.

 

                In Simple Church, Rainer and Geiger show us the results of a study performed on several churches, examining the differences between vibrant and declining congregations. The authors point out four major things that growing and vibrant churches have in common, all of which lead to the churches being simple churches. The four aspects are clarity, movement, alignment, and focus. Each of these words relates to a church’s vision. Is that vision clear and simply understandable? Is that vision a process through which members move to reach maturity? Is that vision aligned throughout the church so that it is the same for each ministry? Is the church focused enough on that vision that they will do away with superfluous activities, even if those activities are generally OK things?

 

                On the positive side, I found myself challenged to think about the church I am serving to consider how we might simplify our ministries. I was encouraged to work with the staff to clarify our vision, to develop the discipleship process, to get others on-board with the plan, and to eliminate things that are not part of who we want to be. The authors make a sweet and strong case for churches not wasting their time and energy on things that are unnecessary for the growth of the Kingdom of God.

 

                Contrary to what I expected from the book’s title and from what I had previously heard, Simple Church is not merely a book about cutting away unnecessary programs. The authors call on pastors and church leaders to know how they will help believers to move from their first contact with the church to deep discipleship. This concept is more than a scheduling issue; it is a focus issue. A church’s leadership must know both what a disciple looks like and how they intend to help people progress toward that point.

 

                At the same time, I would have liked for two strong sections to have been added to this book. The first and most important section that I would have liked to have seen would have been a more theological section in which Rainer and Geiger show the simple church life in a church that is more doctrinally rather than pragmatically centered. What does the simple church concept look like in a theologically rich and deep church? Would it look different than it would in a more seeker-driven congregation? Honestly, most of the things that the authors mention only make sense when considering a very program-heavy congregation.

 

                Secondly, and perhaps surprisingly considering my first critique, I also would have liked to have seen a more nuts and bolts approach to implementing a simple church model. I know that the authors gave us a few examples of simple churches and spelled out the concept well. At the same time, many pastors are sitting in messy circumstances. How does one go about developing the vision, clarifying it, getting others to buy in, and implementing it in such a way as to not lose anything that we are called to do or be in the process?

 

                Overall, I am very glad to have read Simple Church. Rainer and Geiger challenged me to think deeply about communication and structure in our local congregation. Hopefully the good questions that I am asking will lead to positive discussions with others and eventually positive growth in God’s church. I would recommend this work to others who need to think more deeply on their church’s vision and structure, especially if such a one has not been communicating to his people what the church is about or how to take the next step in the discipleship process. 

            Knowing God by J. I. Packer is one of those books that is often recommended as a modern classic, and for good reason. In what is often considered Packer’s signature work, he helps believers to understand several important attributes of God. Unlike some other authors, Packer is not writing about God’s attributes to merely fill our heads with theological concepts, but is instead challenging believers to allow their understanding of the person of God to lead them to greater devotion and holiness.

 

            There is much to love about this book, which explains why so many people have recommended it to me for so many years. Packer takes his readers deeply into many characteristics of God that are often neglected. A reader who works through this material will certainly come away with a deeper understanding or at least a deeper appreciation of the God of the bible.

 

            One particular area that I enjoyed was Packer’s handling of the word propitiation. In explaining what God has done for us to satisfy his wrath and atone for our sins, Packer unpacks the theological concept of propitiation in a thorough and accessible way.

 

            I listened to a free audio copy of this work provided for me through the reviewers program at ChristianAudio.com. Simon Vance has just the right reading voice, accent and cadence, to bring to life Packer’s work.

Ken Sande and Kevin Johnson. Resolving Everyday Conflict. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011. 128 pp. $9.99.

 

            In Resolving Everyday Conflict, Ken Sande and Kevin Johnson offer very biblical and very practical counsel for helping believers deal with life’s inevitable friction. Sande is well-known from his work with Peacemaker Ministries, and his skill is on display in this helpful little book.

 

Positives

 

            Sande and Johnson make conflict resolution seem very simple. They helpfully call on readers to first focus on the glory of God and to repent of their own personal sin in the conflict before gently confronting others with the intent of restoration and reconciliation. In my own experience as a pastor, the first two major points, calling individuals to focus first on God’s glory and to act first to repent of their own sin before accusing others, are life-savers when it comes to bringing conflicts to resolution.

 

            In the book, Sande also shares seven keys to an appropriate confession of sin. These seven principles, all beginning with the letter “A”, are themselves worth the price of the book. Without giving away the list, I found the call to avoid words such as “if”, “maybe”, and “but” when making a confession to be vital.

 

Negatives

 

            My only negative here is that I would happily have read more. Readers might find themselves disappointed that this book does not delve into issues of the deeper hurts of life. But, as the title suggests, this book is intended to help us resolve everyday conflicts, not the kinds of crushing hurts that some might want to solve. For help in healing deeper wounds, looking at a bigger and more thorough work will be necessary—though this book could certainly be a help too.

 

Conclusion

 

            I would eagerly recommend Resolving Everyday Conflict to any pastor, counselor, or everyday believer who wants a helpful system to apply to normal, human struggles. This book is easy-to-read, helpful, and practical.

 

Audio

 

            I Listened to the excellent audio version of this book from ChristianAudio.com. Maurice England read the book in a very clear and engaging way. I received my audio copy for free as a part of the ChristianAudio reviewers program.

Mark Galli. God Wins: Heaven, Hell, and Why the Good News Is Better than Love Wins. Tyndale House Publishers, 2011. 204 pp. $10.08.

 

            Rob Bell’s Love Wins produced a firestorm in the Christian blogosphere. It is no surprise that a response book, or several response books, would be forthcoming. One of the first, God Wins, comes from the pen of Mark Galli, senior managing editor of Christianity Today. In his response to Bell’s controversial offering, Galli graciously attempts to correct the errors of the controversial, mega-church pastor.

 

Positives

 

            Galli’s tone in this work is one of its most endearing qualities. Throughout God Wins, readers will encounter arguments that are not personal, not cruel, and not straw men. Galli finds himself thankful for the fact that Christians are thinking deeply about important issues, even though he disagrees with Bell’s conclusions. In a discussion of a topic that has generated a great deal of heat, the tone of Galli’s work is refreshing.

 

            Generally, the theological positions that Galli presents are spot-on. He argues against the universalism present in Bell’s work (though Bell himself denies being a universalist, his conclusions are universalistic). Galli argues for a much higher view of the atonement than Bell, pointing out the importance of substitution and propitiation.

 

Negatives

 

            It is simply difficult to read a response book to a book that you have not read. I have not chosen to read Love Wins, and thus cannot say whether Galli present’s Bell’s arguments fairly. My assumption, given Galli’s tone, is that he tries hard to present Bell fairly. Galli also makes it clear that he wants his book to be able to stand alone. However, it simply cannot stand on its own merits. God Wins is a popular-level, critical response, and that very genre of book limits its appeal.

 

            Theologically, I find myself cringing occasionally as I hear Galli’s arguments. This is not to say that I agree with what Bell is credited as putting forth. Rather, I notice that Galli` is very open to views which I find inconsistent. For example, Galli declares that annihilationism is as plausible as an eternal hell; I disagree. Galli also declares at least twice that Scripture is silent on how God will deal with those who never hear the gospel. I would argue that Romans 1:18-20 and 10:13-ff are quite clear regarding this issue. So, though Galli is very solid on many issues, I cannot offer a blanket recommendation of his doctrinal positions.

 

Conclusion

 

            Mark Galli has, with a very kind and gracious tone, put forth a work that is a fine first response to Rob Bell’s quite notorious book. There is much to recommend God Wins, but there are also weaknesses. Readers who are very interested in the controversy over Bell’s arguments will find Galli’s work helpful. Others who wish merely to study the issues of heaven, hell, and atonement should look elsewhere for more clear and thorough treatments of these important topics.

 

Audio

 

            I listened to the fine recording of this book produced by ChristianAudio.com. As is always the case when dealing with Christian Audio, the quality of this audio book was excellent. I received a free audio copy of this work as part of the reviewers program in exchange for publishing an honest and thoughtful review.

C. J. Mahaney et al. Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008. 192 pp. $10.39.    

 

            While the Bible charges us not to love the world or the things in the world, our culture and our flesh often tempts us to love the world, even if just a little. In Worldliness, CJ Mahaney and friends look at multiple categories of ways for us to battle the pull of the world in our Christian lives.

 

            This book is short, sweet, and to-the-point. It is certainly not guilty of empty and meaningless repetition as so many larger works can be. The combination of multiple authors addressing separate issues is refreshing. It is simply nice to read different voices as different issues arise. The authors do a nice job of helping readers think more clearly and biblically about issues like music, dress, possessions, etc.; and they do so without driving the reader into a legalistic framework of “do this” and “never do that.”

 

            I would recommend this work with no major reservations. IT would make a fine tool for a small group Bible study or Sunday School class. The short chapters and different authors should help students of most ages remain engaged.

 

**        For this review, I listened to the audio version which I received for free from Christian Audio. As usual, this book was read well and clearly.