Category Archives: Books

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New Books on Suffering

Our young church has endured much pain over its two years. We’ve experienced the untimely loss of loved ones, surprising and deadly diagnoses, and profound spiritual sadness. I am thus always eager to find resources full of biblical wisdom and winsomeness to speak to conditions of suffering.

Praise God that we’ve already seen a few marvelous new books published to arm God’s people in the midst of loss. You might want to consider adding these to your church’s book store.

9781587433580mRejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer & Life in Christ by Todd Billings. At the age of thirty-nine, Christian theologian Todd Billings was diagnosed with a rare form of incurable cancer. In the wake of that diagnosis, he began grappling with the hard theological questions we face in the midst of crisis: Why me? Why now? Where is God in all of this? This eloquently written book shares Billings’s journey, struggle, and reflections on providence, lament, and life in Christ in light of his illness, moving beyond pat answers toward hope in God’s promises. Theologically robust yet eminently practical, it engages the open questions, areas of mystery, and times of disorientation in the Christian life. Billings offers concrete examples through autobiography, cultural commentary, and stories from others, showing how our human stories of joy and grief can be incorporated into the larger biblical story of God’s saving work in Christ.

9781939946522mGrief Undone: A Journey with God and Cancer by Elizabeth Groves. Grief Undone is the breathtakingly honest, yet hopeful account of how Elizabeth (Libbie) and Al Groves walked with God through Al’s terminal cancer. Their true story—saturated with in-the-moment Scriptural reflections, blogs, and fervent prayers—paints a stunning picture of how faith transforms the human experience of suffering. But Grief Undone is more than the chronicle of one family’s courage in the face of cancer. At its core, Grief Undone tells a story about the God who is with his people through each and every circumstance in life. Grief Undone will inevitably display the beauty of Christ’s sustaining love for his people through trials that seemed too hard to bear. Though grief threatens to undo us, we find that we are not destroyed, but sustained by God’s presence.

Story-driven and real, Grief Undone avoids the usual traps of being preachy, gratuitous, or dismissive in the face of suffering and grief. Modeling rather than teaching about healthy and God-honoring grief, Grief Undone is uniquely practical for those who are grieving as well as the pastors, counselors, and friends who seek to help them.

ITInheritance of Tears: Trusting the Lord of Life When Death Visits the Womb by Jessalyn Hutto. When a woman becomes pregnant, miscarriage is usually the furthest thing from her mind. Her time is spent dreaming of the day she will finally cradle her newborn baby in her arms. Such was the case for Jessalyn Hutto when she became pregnant with her first baby. But as is all too common in our post-fall world, the precious life she carried came to an abrupt end before those dreams ever became a reality. Death had visited her womb and the horrors of miscarriage had become a part of her life’s story.

In this short book, Hutto seeks to deal honestly and sensitively with the issue of miscarriage and reveal how it relates to the Word of God. She does so by answering questions like:

* Why do babies have to die in the womb?

* Do miscarriages take God by surprise?

* Does God care about your pain?

* How can any good come from something so terrible?

* How can I find joy in the midst of such intense sorrow?

By providing a biblical context for miscarriage, she beckons mourning mothers and fathers to walk triumphantly through the valley of the shadow of death by fixing their eyes upon their loving Savior, who will one day do away with death and sorrow forever.

Short, sensitive, and theologically robust, Inheritance of Tears is a book that every pastor and church member can confidently share with those who are called to walk through the painful trial of miscarriage, and in reading the book themselves, they will gain greater insight into how to effectively minister to these parents in their time of need.

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7 Simple Suggestions for Morning Prayer

The Heart of Prayer

I have two simple maxims on the place of prayer in pastoral ministry: 1) prayer is the greatest work, and 2) prayer is the hardest work. The Lord Jesus set the model for us. His life of prayer was full of dependency, consistency, and expectancy. A desire to pastor “like Jesus” calls for careful attention to His prayer life.

While you can’t properly call it a prescription, one unassailable description of Jesus’ prayer life was His affinity for praying early in the morning. Mark famously recounts Jesus’ patter in prayer in 1:35 saying, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (cf. Luke 4:42).

A Commendation, Not a Command

In a sermon entitled “Christ the Example of Ministers” Jonathan Edwards exhorts,

The ministers of Christ should be persons of the same spirit that their Lord was of: the same spirit of humility and lowliness of heart; for the servant is not greater than his Lord. They should be of the same spirit of heavenly-mindedness, and contempt of the glory, wealth, and pleasures of this world. They should be of the same spirit of devotion and fervent love to God. They should follow the example of his prayerfulness; of whom we read from time to time of his retiring from the world, away from the noise and applause of the multitudes, into mountains and solitary places, for secret prayer, and holy converse with his Father; and once of his rising up in the morning a great while before day, and going and departing into a solitary place to pray, Mark 1:35.

If someone wants to quibble with the Northampton Man they would probably do so with his three-fold use of “should” in the above paragraph. Many might take Edwards’ language of “should” as a binding command—and they probably should! After all, the word does ordinarily communicate duty. But I want to rescue, what is in my estimation, Edwards’ wise counsel. Minsters of Christ love to model their lives after Christ. So while we ought not command morning prayer of others, we can commend it.

There is an arresting power in pastors so desperately dependent on God they long to see their God’s face first thing in the morning. Consider the spiritual blood-earnestness of M’Cheyne who wrote,

I ought to pray before seeing anyone. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o’clock before I begin secret prayer.  This is a wretched system.  It is unscriptural.  Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place.  David said, “Early will I seek thee,”  and, “My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning.”  Family prayer loses much  of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me.  My conscience feels guilty, my soul unfed, my lamp not trimmed. Then, when in secret prayer, the soul is often out of tune.  I feel it is far better to begin with God—to see His face first—to get my soul near Him before it is near another.

Yes, it does seem better to begin the day with Him.

Praying Like Jesus Prayed

A modern author, full of grace and mercy, who sounds a similar call is Paul Miller in his book A Praying Life. He says, “Jesus’ pattern of morning prayer follows the ancient rhythm of the Hebrew writers who bent their hearts to God in the morning.” A sample from the Psalms echo the biblical commendation I’m trying to draw out:

  • “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” (5:3)
  • “But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.” (59:16)
  • “But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.” (88:13)
  • “Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” (143:8)

With Jesus and the Psals in mind Miller goes on to offer the following “seven simple suggestions for how you can spend time with your Father in the morning”:

  1. Go to bed. What you do in the evening will shape your morning. The Hebrew notion of a day as the evening and morning (see Genesis 1) helps you plan for prayer. If you want to pray in the morning, then plan your evening so you don’t stay up too late. The evening and the morning are connected.
  2. Get up. Praying in bed is wonderful. But you’ll never develop a morning prayer time in bed. Some of my richest prayer times are at night. I’ll wake up praying. But those prayer times only began to emerge because I got out of bed to pray.
  3. Get awake. Maybe you need to make a pot of coffee first or take a shower.
  4. Get a quiet place. Maybe a room, a chair, or a place with a view. Or maybe you do better going for a walk. Make sure that no one can interrupt you.
  5. Get comfortable. Don’t feel like you have to pray on your knees. For years I was hindered from praying because I found it so uncomfortable to pray on my knees.
  6. Get going. Start with just five minutes. Start with a small goal that you can attain rather than something heroic. You’ll quickly find that the time will fly.
  7. Keep going. Consistency is more important than length. If you pray five minutes every day, then the length of time will slowly grow. You’ll look up and discover that twenty minutes have gone by. You’ll enjoy being with God. Jesus is so concerned about hanging in there with prayer he tells “his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, NIV).

That’s helpful and simple counsel. May you put it to discerning use in your ministry.

Don’t doubt the power of devoted morning prayer. It may just be the spiritual catalyst your ministry is missing.

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Tethered Preaching

TSGJohn Piper’s The Supremacy of God in Preaching is probably my favorite book on the subject. When reading the book you can’t help but feel the gravitas of proclaiming God’s word loading your soul—in a wondrous way.

Twenty-five years after its original publication Baker just published a revised version that includes four brand new chapters representing Pipers thoughts on preaching after thirty-three years at Bethlehem Baptist. One of the new chapters is titled, “In Honor of Tethered Preaching: John Calvin and the Entertaining Pastor.” Let me whet your appetite for the new edition with Piper’s answer to the question, “What is an Entertainment-Oriented Preacher?”

The difference between an entertainment-oriented preacher and a Bible-oriented preacher is the presence or absence of a manifest connection between the preacher’s words and the Bible as the authorization of what he says.

The entertainment-oriented preacher gives the impression that he is not tethered to an authoritative book in what he says. What he says doesn’t seem to be shaped and constrained by an authority outside himself. He gives the impression that what he says has significance for reasons other than that it manifestly expresses the meaning and significance of the Bible. So he seems untethered to objective authority.

The entertainment-oriented preacher seems to be at ease talking about many things that are not drawn out of the Bible. In his message, he seems to enjoy more talking about other things than what the Bible teaches. His words seem to have a self-standing worth as interesting or fun. They are entertaining. But they don’t give the impression that this man stands as the representative of God before God’s people to deliver God’s message.

What then is a “Bible-oriented preacher?” Grab a copy today to find out!

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Cultivating Biblical Godliness

Reformation Heritage is quietly putting together a wonderful little series of booklets on the theme of “Cultivating Biblical Godliness.” You might consider buying a few of these slim volumes for your church’s bookstore.

Here’s what RHB has to say about the series:

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, “The world today is looking for, and desperately needs, true Christians. I am never tired of saying that what the Church needs to do is not to organize evangelistic campaigns and attract outside people, but to begin herself to live the Christian life. If she did that, men and women would be crowding into our buildings. They would say, ‘What is the secret of this?’”

Many people who are new to the church need instruction in the most basic aspects of godly living. Even where churches are engaged heavily in discipleship, visitors and members often have gaps in their understanding and practice. One of the greatest needs of our time is for the Spirit of God to cultivate biblical godliness in us in order to put the glory of Christ on display through us, all to the glory of God the Father.

For these reasons, Joel Beeke and Ryan McGraw are coediting a series of booklets titled Cultivating Biblical Godliness. These booklets treat matters that are vital to Christian experience, and each contribution aims to address a wide variety of people and circumstances at a fundamental and introductory level. This includes teaching people what to believe in order to practice personal holiness as well as specific directions on how to cultivate biblical godliness in relation to issues that are common to God’s people.

The distinctive feature of this series is its experiential tone. While some booklet series aim to enlighten the mind, these booklets aim to warm the affections as well. The goal is to promote communion with the triune God and to transform the entire person in thought, speech, and behavior. To this end, we intend to include a wide range of authors whom the Spirit has blessed to skillfully stir up the church to personal holiness and affection to Christ through their preaching and writing ministries.

We need a Christianity that puts the transformative power of God in the gospel on display through developing a communion with God that is visible to the world. Our prayer is that through this series, the Lord would revive His church by producing Christians who are full of love for Christ, who deny themselves in order to follow Him at great personal cost, and who know the joys of walking with the triune God. This is the kind of Christianity that we need. This is the kind of Christianity that the triune God has used to turn the world upside down. May He  be pleased to do so again.

Current Titles

cultivating__43265.1411578436.1280.1280What is a Christian? by Ryan McGraw. What is a Christian? This is a truly vital question because never-ending happiness or everlasting horror hinges upon understanding the correct, biblical answer to it. Yet few questions have provoked so much confusion. Ryan McGraw lays out what it means to be a Christian in terms of what one believes, what one experiences, and what one does—a full-orbed Christianity of head, heart, and hands. If you are investigating what it means to follow Jesus Christ, if you are wrestling with the question of whether you are truly saved, if you desire to grow as a Christian by getting back to the basics, or if you are seeking to help others, here are simple and clear answers from the Holy Scriptures.

cultivating_3__88370.1411577452.1280.1280What Does it Mean to Love God? by Maurice Roberts. How do you love a person you cannot see? What do you give to someone who has it all? Why is it so important to love the Creator of the galaxies? What does it mean to love God? Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment given to mankind is to love the Lord with all our mind, heart, and strength, and yet what it means to love God can be a profound mystery. Maurice Roberts explains the biblical meaning of love for God and shows how such love moves us to do many things, from thirsting for God to praying for our neighbor’s salvation. He shows that love for God is like a sweet fire that must lift all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength in a holy flame toward God.

cultivating_4__85970.1411574472.1280.1280How Do I Kill Remaining Sin? by Geoff Thomas. Are you dying? If not, then you have not yet begun to live. The Bible teaches us that when God forgives a person by the death of Jesus Christ, He starts a process in him of dying daily—putting his sinful habits to death as he lives in union with Christ. Though being born again brings fundamental changes in a person’s soul, every Christian has sin remaining in him. Pastor Geoffrey Thomas explains how Christians can fight and conquer sin in their lives by the grace of Christ so that they grow to be more like Jesus, living wholeheartedly for the Lord one day at a time.

9781601783677__48505.1414713222.1280.1280How Do Preaching and Corporate Prayer Work Together? by Ryan McGraw. In John 14:12–14, Jesus declares that His people would accomplish “greater works” than His. What are these greater works the church would accomplish, and how could they be even greater than Christ’s miracles? With biblical insight, author Ryan McGraw takes a closer look at this passage, along with the book of Acts, and explains that these greater works are connected to corporate prayer and faithful preaching, which are vital to the life of every local congregation. How Do Preaching and Corporate Prayer Work Together? affirms the priority of prayer and preaching in the church and offers practical instruction for effective corporate prayer that, by God’s grace, will bear fruit in preaching.

9781601783653__67133.1414712951.1280.1280How Should Men Lead Their Families? by Joel Beeke. God’s Word teaches us that Jesus Christ was ordained by God and anointed by the Spirit for His work as prophet, priest, and king of His children. Those who are in union with Him share His offices in a limited but important way. In this booklet, Joel Beeke explains how husbands and fathers should lead their families as prophets, priests, and kings. Filled with biblical wisdom and practical application, How Should Men Lead Their Families? is a helpful guide for men who desire to bear the image of the Father of glory and of the heavenly Husband as they lead, teach, love, evangelize, protect, and rule over their wives and children.

cultivating_6_front__59035.1416344107.1280.1280What is Experiential Calvinism? by Iain Hamilton. “There is no such thing as ‘dead Calvinism,’” writes author Ian Hamilton. Calvinism, simply put, is biblical Christianity. No mere human devised theological system, Calvinism is rooted in and shaped by God’s revelation in Holy Scripture. Hamilton asserts that Calvinism is “natively experiential.” In What Is Experiential Calvinism?, the author shows us that Calvinism is far richer and more profound than five points and helps us see that the lives and ministries of those who are true Calvinists pulse with living, Spirit-inspired, Christ-glorifying, God-centered truth.

Why_Fast__19156.1421871688.1280.1280Why Should I Fast? by Daniel Hyde. Today, the church seems to have forgotten about the spiritual discipline of fasting. Most of us have never heard a sermon about it, and few of us have ever practiced it. We think of fasting as an antiquated relic of the past. So why should we fast in an age of fast food? Pastor Daniel R. Hyde argues that “fasting is actually a basic biblical teaching and practice, one that is vital to cultivating godly living in an ungodly generation.” Fasting is a means to the end of abiding, deep, and personal communion with the triune God through prayer. The author explains what fasting is, provides biblical examples of it, reminds us of what Jesus taught regarding it, and tells us how to go about it.

cultivating_2__61953.1411576007.1280.1280How Should Teen Read the Bible? by Joel Beeke. Most Christians know that they should read the Bible, and many have tried, but it is not unusual for people to get stuck, get lost, or get discouraged. Here is a booklet that lays out wise guidelines for how to read the most important book in the world and not give up. Joel Beeke offers many helpful tips on how to benefit from the Scriptures with the constant awareness that our attitude is crucial. Written especially for young people, How Should Teens Read the Bible? Is an extremely practical resource for anyone who wants to read the Scriptures with regularity, joy, and delight.

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Recent Reads

I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in the hope that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

0801026326mReformed Dogmatics Vol. 1 by Herman Bavinck. One of my Endeavors for 2015 is to read through Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics. Volume 1 covers the matters of “Prolegomena,” which Bavinck breaks up into five parts: 1) Introduction to Dogmatics, 2) The History and Literature of Dogmatic Theology, 3) Foundations of Dogmatic Theology (Principia), 4) Revelation (Principium Externum), and 5) Faith (Principium Internum). The Dutch Doctor’s grasp of the relevant material is nothing short of astonishing. His immense, God-given ability in linguistics, history, theology, hermeneutics, and application shine through every section. I did get bogged down at various points, but that’s probably due to my having a more limited interest on some the volume’s subjects. The next volume is on “God and Creation” and I expect to be keenly engaged from start to finish.

TSSMThe Seven Storey Mountain: An Autobiography of Faith by Thomas Merton. For years I heard about The Seven Storey Mountain, but only now got around to reading it, and only because it’s required for a June seminar on “20th Century Spirituality.” Many have called it the best autobiography of faith since Augustine’s Confessions. Such sentiment is surely overstatement, yet one can’t deny the smashing worldwide influence Merton (d. 1915-1968) has had over the last seventy years or so. The power of Merton’s story doesn’t lie in its uniqueness—he was one of many who converted to Catholicism in search of peace and meaning. No, the force of Merton lies in his literary skill in relating to the common man. His autobiography is beautifully, hilariously, and masterfully written. I can’t remember the last book I read in which author’s skill in writing so consistently amazed me.

Anyone who knows me well knows I’m sympathetic to many aims of the monastic life. I love the solitude, simplicity, devotion, and earnest pursuit of God. So maybe I am unusually inclined to enjoy Merton’s autobiography—not for his conversion to Catholic faith and doctrine, but for his single-minded devotion in service to God.

TRDThe River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. I loved Candice Millard’s account of President James Garfield’s assassination in Destiny of the Republic. In that book she compellingly and insightfully retells famous stories of days gone by. Although her book on Roosevelt is not as strong as the one on Garfield, The River of Doubt is still is outstanding. After TR lost out on a third bid for the presidency he turned to explore one of the last unknown areas of the globe: the Amazon. In particular, a yet-to-be traveled body of water known as the River of Doubt. “Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunted its shadows; piranhas glided through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turned the river into a roiling cauldron.” And there TR nearly died. What a story! I can’t wait for Millard’s next book, on Churchill and the Boer War.

TLCThe Last Child by John Hart. Whenever I’m at a loss for what fiction book to read next I tend to gravitate towards Edgar Award winners. And so it was that John Hart’s The Last Child, winner of the 2010 Edgar for Best Novel, recently came into my home. Hart tells his tale is with profound earthiness and emotion. Johnny Merrimon, the titular last child, is a thirteen-year-old boy in search of his sister who went missing over a year ago. His investigation is full of hope, agony, and tension to boot. The publisher’s summary says, “Traveling the wilderness between innocence and hard wisdom, between hopelessness and faith, The Last Child leaves all categories behind and establishes John Hart as a writer of unique power.” I totally agree.

TAThe Accident by Chris Pavone. The Edgars are also responsible for my recent foray into the C.V. of Chris Pavone as his debut novel The Expats won the 2013 Edgar for Best Novel. I enjoyed his first offering enough to check out his second book and The Accident is no sophomore slump. The plot centers on an anonymous book manuscript that has the power to bring down some of the most powerful men in the world. The action develops quickly and spans the globe as some are interested in profiting off the book, while others will—literally and prosaically—stop at nothing to burn all evidence of the manuscript’s existence. I was freshly surprised at several different points, but the novel’s ending unfortunately doesn’t live up to the great tension Pavone succeeds in building. And what do they say about a book’s ending? It’s the first thing you remember. Maybe that’s why, a few weeks on since finishing The Accident, I think of it as something of a disappointment.

GPGood People by Marcus Sakey. My love for Sakey’s “Brilliance Saga” is admittedly rapturous. Only “The Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” interest me more. Since reading the first two Brilliance installments around the turn of the new year I’ve slowly been working my way through Sakey’s older novels. While they aren’t nearly as captivating as the Brilliance books, they are page turners nonetheless. Good People revolves around Tom and Anna Reed, who are confronted with an expected predicament. Upon finding their downstairs tenant dead they also discover $370,000 in cash laying around the kitchen. Will they take it or report it? They take it . . . and madness, of the hard-to-believe kind, ensues.

TDThe Descent by Tim Johnston. The press clippings sucked me in and probably created unrealistic expectations for Johnston’s debut novel. The Washington Post says, “The story unfolds brilliantly, always surprisingly . . . Read this astonishing novel.” Vanity Fair exclaims, “Tim Johnston’s high-wire literary thriller . . . will leave you gasping.” If you’ve yet to hear of the genre, a “literary thriller” is a somewhat snarky label for thrillers written in creative, supposedly artistic prose. The Descent is full of surprises and occasional moments of splendor. On the whole, however, I found Johnston’s artistry will frustrating and obstructive.

Click here to find other entries in the Recent Reads series.

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Book to Buy: On Suffering

PrintYou will want to buy Todd Billings’ latest book, Rejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer & Life in Christ. Pastoral sensitivity and honest gravitas permeate each page. The Christian life is ordinarily one of suffering. Thus, we need helps to fuel joy in the pain. Rejoicing in Lament is a beautiful achievement.

Here’s what the publisher says:

At the age of thirty-nine, Christian theologian Todd Billings was diagnosed with a rare form of incurable cancer. In the wake of that diagnosis, he began grappling with the hard theological questions we face in the midst of crisis: Why me? Why now? Where is God in all of this? This eloquently written book shares Billings’s journey, struggle, and reflections on providence, lament, and life in Christ in light of his illness, moving beyond pat answers toward hope in God’s promises. Theologically robust yet eminently practical, it engages the open questions, areas of mystery, and times of disorientation in the Christian life. Billings offers concrete examples through autobiography, cultural commentary, and stories from others, showing how our human stories of joy and grief can be incorporated into the larger biblical story of God’s saving work in Christ.

Contents
1. Walking in the Fog: A Narrowed Future or a Spacious Place?
2. Sorting through the Questions: The Book of Job, the Problem of Evil, and the Limits of Human Wisdom
3. Lamenting in Trust: Praying with the Psalmist amid a Sea of Emotions
4. Lamenting to the Almighty: Discerning the Mystery of Divine Providence
5. Joining the Resistance: Lament and Compassionate Witness to the Present and Future King
6. Death in the Story of God and in the Church
7. Praying for Healing and Praying for the Kingdom
8. In the Valley: Toxins, Healing, and Strong Medicine for Sinners
9. The Light of Perfect Love in the Darkness: God’s Impassible Love in Christ
10. “I Am Not My Own”: Our Story Incorporated into Christ’s

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Recent Reads

I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in the hope that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

TWGThe Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis. I’ve never ventured far from Narnia when it comes to Clive Staples Lewis. A dabble in a Screwtape letter here and a jaunt through Mere Christianity there is about as far as I’ve gone. I can now add The Weight of Glory to my woefully small list of Lewis reads. TWG is a collection of nine sermons Lewis delivered during the World War II years in Britain. I’m sure it will be sacrilege to many for me to say, but in these addresses I find Lewis often dwelling in ho hum banter only occasionally breaking out with a brilliant insight like, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.” If you read only one address I’d stick to “The Inner Ring,” for here sheer brilliance reigns from start to finish.

LLLook and Live: Behold the Soul-Thrilling, Sin-Destroying Glory of Christ by Matt Papa. To hear Papa sing or speak is to feel something of the earnestness of John the Baptist. At least that’s my experience. Papa is in love with Christ and is passionate in his appeal for others to join in on the glory. These traits, and many more, are available for all to see in Papa’s excellent book Look and Live. He is spot on to say, “We don’t need more willpower. We don’t need to get ourselves together. We need a greater thrill . . . a more captivating beauty. What we need is a vision of God. We need to see glory.” Drawing on many mighty men of old and the modern twin towers of Piper and Keller, Papa shows how a glorious vision of Christ helps us slay sin, preach the gospel, and live courageously in the world. If the book has any downfall it’s that Papa’s thoughts often come out as individual exhortations (i.e. he writes a lot of one line paragraphs), instead of developed arguments and declarations. But that does remind you a bit of the Baptist doesn’t it? Pick up a copy of this fine book and thrill yourself with the greatness of Christ.

IKIIn the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeanette by Hampton Sides. My wife got me Sides’ latest for Christmas and I went into it with a sense of frigid expectation. Thoughts of arctic expeditions in our modern time are enough to chill the bones, let alone an expedition that set sail in 1879. Furthermore, the book’s subtitle demands the reader steel his gaze from the outset lest he be unduly disappointed. The Jeanette‘s journey to the North Pole captured our nation’s attention in the late 1800s and for good measure: no one really knew what lay up in the cold dome. A lost civilization? An open polar sea? A paradoxically warm climate? Or just loads of ice? The story of Captain De Long’s men is one Sides is perfectly suited to tell and my, my does he tell it well. The pages turn quickly in this one; fascination, elation, and trepidation await. And yes, they come in that order.

TEXThe Expats by Chris Pavone. Evidently Pavone made the change from editing cookbooks and garden tomes to writing spy novels with the publication of The Expats. This fun read centers on Kate Moore, a former CIA operative who is relegated to domestic duty at home when her husband takes a new job in Luxembourg. Soon enough Kate’s covert tendencies involuntarily take over when as she begins to doubt the veracity of her husband, her friends, and—well, just about everyone. Pavone’s book, while thoroughly enjoyable, does recede into the ridiculous at times in the elements of espionage Kate employs. But Pavone redeems the silliness by saving his best for the end. The book’s final chapters are mesmerizingly constructed and make one eager for what the author might cook up next.

Click here to find other entries in the Recent Reads series.

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Book to Look For: On Bible Meditation

Depending on your background the practice of meditation may sound thoroughly orthodox or totally New Age. We ought to think of it as utterly biblical.

No book in the Bible speaks more frequently about meditation than the Psalms. Psalm 1 says the blessed man meditates on God’s law day and night. In Psalm 63 David speaks of a deep thirsting after the Lord which leads him to meditate upon the God’s greatness during the night. Psalm 119:148 says, “My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.”

Let the Puritans Guide the Way

Battle_plan__38771.1421098002.315.315One group in church history that understood the usefulness of meditation was the Puritans. Joel Beeke writes, “The Puritans never tired of saying that biblical meditation involves thinking upon the Triune God and His Word. By anchoring meditation in the living Word, Jesus Christ, and God’s written Word, the Bible, the Puritans distanced themselves from the kind of bogus spirituality or mysticism that stresses contemplation at the expense of action, and flights of the imagination at the expense of biblical content.

“For the Puritans, meditation exercises both the mind and the heart; he who meditates approaches a subject with his intellect as well as his affections. Thomas Watson defined meditation as ‘a holy exercise of the mind whereby we bring the truths of God to remembrance, and do seriously ponder upon them and apply them to ourselves.’”
Praise God that Reformation Heritage is about to publish a promising work by David Saxton titled, God’s Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation.
Here’s what RHB has to say about the book:
During the seventeenth century, English Puritan pastors often encouraged their congregations in the spiritual discipline of meditating on God and His Word. Today, however, much of evangelicalism is either ignorant of or turned off to the idea of meditation. In God’s Battle Plan for the Mind, pastor David Saxton seeks to convince God’s people of the absolute necessity for personal meditation and motivate them to begin this work themselves. But he has not done this alone. Rather, he has labored through numerous Puritan works in order to bring together the best of their insights on meditation. Standing on the shoulders of these giants, Saxton teaches us how to meditate on divine truth and gives valuable guidance about how to rightly pattern our thinking throughout the day. With the rich experiential theology of the Puritans, this book lays out a course for enjoying true meditation on God’s Word.
John Macarthur exhorts, “You need to get a copy, read it, put its principles into practice, and ‘be transformed by the renewal of your mind.’” Tolle lege!
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Recent Reads

I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in the hope that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

DDiscipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This work is better known in America as The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer’s collective ruminations on truly following Christ has been a spiritual classic for decades. I’ve started and stopped this work numerous times, largely because I find myself in such agreement that I think, “Ok, I get the point and I completely agree. Time to move on.” Just this week I finally made it all the way through to the end. Bonhoeffer’s main contribution to our understanding of discipleship is his taxonomy on grace: cheap grace versus costly grace. He says,

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

After a prolonged meditation on discipleship Bonhoeffer proceeds to exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, which is followed by instruction on Matthew 10 and “The Messengers.” Bonhoeffer’s exegesis is questionable at points and his Lutheran convictions ring out in the book’s final section on the church. Nevertheless, this is a valuable work for our age that wonders if radical calls to obedience are necessary.

LTLife Together & Prayerbook of the Bible by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. From 1935-1937 the Finkenwalde seminary provided an occasion for Bonhoeffer to construct something he’d always longed for: the construction of a Christian community based on the Sermon on the Mount. As I read the book I couldn’t help but think of the Finkenwalde experiment as something like evangelical monasticism. Bonhoeffer created a routine of Scripture reading, prayers, meditation, work, singing, confession, and communion that would make the old monks proud. This is not to say I disagree with what Bonhoeffer built. I actually am quite sympathetic to his encouragement of systematically partaking of the means of grace. One thing a reader of Life Together can’t miss is Bonhoeffer’s prioritization of the Psalms for ordinary life in Christ. Thus, it only makes sense for this edition of Bonhoeffer’s Works to couple Life Together with The Prayerbook of the Bible, his brief commentary and application of the Psalms.

9781433502804mWorldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World edited by C.J. Mahaney. Mahaney, in my view, is right to say, “Today, the greatest challenge facing American evangelicalism is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world.” A common topic of discussion in centuries past, the issue of worldliness seems to have receded from the broader evangelical world today. With the big “L Word” (legalism) lurking around every corner few people seem concerned with the danger of loving the world. Yet Scripture unalterably warns against lurking worldliness (1 John 2:15-17). The Sovereign Grace men do a fantastic job in this book offering winsome counsel towards crucifying desires for the world. Resisting the temptation to offer unbiblical prescriptions, each chapter offers sound wisdom on matters of media, modesty, music, and living faithfully in the world. Highly recommended!

9781433537264mA Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer by John Piper. One of my endeavors for 2015 is to grow in the practice of fasting. I turned to Piper’s book for counsel and encouragement in my own devotional life and he didn’t disappoint. A Hunger for God is classic Piper: rigorously biblical, deeply thoughtful, and occasionally loquacious. If you don’t want to read the whole book, at least pick up the free PDF here and read the first chapter, “Is Fasting Christian?”

ASCA Serious Call to a Contemplative Lifestyle by Glenn Hinson. What a puzzle this slim volume volume is. For over thirty years Hinson was the professor of church history at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. But go ahead an throw out any notions of classic Baptist spirituality right now. Hinson advocates process theology, sympathetic to the evolutionary philosophy of Teilhard, and mystical in his orientation. His contemplative model of spirituality says, “God loves you. Love God back through contemplation on His loving essence.” I did enjoy his pleas for simplicity in life and the importance of meditative prayer, yet his almost utter disregard for God’s word as a means of grace makes his “serious call” . . . well, not that serious at all.

OGOrdinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. I’d seen Krueger’s latest novel on many “Best of 2014” lists, so I picked it up with high expectations and wasn’t let down. Set in New Bremen, Minnesota in the summer of 1961, Ordinary Grace is told through the eyes of Frank Drum – forty years after he experienced the events of 1961 as a somewhat rebellious thirteen-year-old. Several tragic deaths struck the quaint northern city that summer and we feel it through the emotions of the Drum household. As the death toll increases so does the angst and pain of investigating the loss of those you love. Krueger shows himself to be a master of pacing and well-textured characters. The “surprise” ending was foreseeable, and not totally believable, but don’t let that dissuade you from reading this one. A compelling read from start to finish.

DJDefending Jacob by William Landay. I once saw a review calling Defending Jacob a near identical twin to Scott Turow’s genre-creating work Presumed Innocent. Such talk demands a personal investigation, so off I went to get my own copy of the latest book to receive “The Next Presumed Innocent” award. Defending Jacob is indeed strikingly similar in tone to Turow’s classic. But don’t call it a copycat. Landay’s book stands on its own merits – which are many – and it draws you in from the prologue. Andy Barber is the assistant district attorney of a New England suburb stunned by the brutal death of a young boy in a leafy city park. For Barber the death is even more shattering: his son Jacob is accused of being the murderer. Two questions consume the reader as Jacob’s arrest and trial unfold: 1) Is Jacob a sociopath in the making? 2) Or is he simply a troubled kid in the wrong place at the wrong time? People Magazine says, “The shocking ending1 will have readers pulling up their bedcovers to ward off the haunting chill.” Such sentiment is a wee bit strong, but Defending Jacob does stick with you.

Click here to find other entries in the Recent Reads series.

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  1. For the record, the ending wasn’t a shock at all. It’s easy to predict if you pay attention to Jacob’s relationships in the book. ↩
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Train Your Soul for Joy

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My pathway into the Puritans began, unexpectedly, in the spring of 2007 when I read George Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards: A Life. I found Edwards’ passion for God’s glory and personal holiness captivating. What fascinated me most about his spirituality was his heavenly-mindedness. Thinking Edwards was a “Puritan” (he’s technically isn’t) I googled, “Puritans and heavenly mindedness.” Over 800,000 hits came back and my life has never been the same.

I came across J.I. Packer’s A Quest for Godliness and a bunch of works by some guy named Joel Beeke. I devoured these secondary sources with an appetite bordering on gluttonous. But I had yet to really get into the original Puritan works.

Ad Fontes!

That all changed on Christmas Day 2008 when generous family members ushered in, what I’ve come to call, “The Winter of Puritan Paperbacks.” Banner of Truth’s wonderful reprints opened my eyes to new vistas of doxological approaches to theology. From there, I purchased the complete works of Boston, Brooks, Bunyan, Flavel, Goodwin, Sibbes, and Swinnock. It seemed as though I was always reading a Puritan work; I was squarely in their grip and there I remain.

In the Puritans I find reverent affection for our great God.

In the Puritans I find doctrinal precision coupled with experiential application.

In the Puritans I find a devotion to worship God in all of life.

In the Puritans I find a passion to be with Christ’s church in worship.

In the Puritans I find a peculiar strength for suffering.

In the Puritans I find a delightful submission to God’s providence.

In short, the Puritans train my soul for joy. I believe they can do the same for you.

A Very Good Place to Start

Many Christians – and pastors – today live with spurious assumptions about the Puritans: “They are killjoys!” “They are impossible to read!” “They are crazy, introspective legalists!” There are, to be sure, some verbose, legalistic joy-crushing Puritans, but those men are an aberration within the movement. The overwhelming majority are “Doctors of the Soul” without peer in church history.

The only way you’ll know if I’m right or wrong is to step into the Puritans waters (come on in, the water’s great!). Here are a few works that capture the Puritan ethos and will likely cause you to swim deeper into this ocean of spiritual goodness.

0851518672mThe Mortification of Sin by John Owen. Jerry Bridges said, “John Owen’s treatises on Indwelling Sin in Believers and The Mortification of Sin are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written.” JI Packer once wrote, “I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern, and I owe more to this little book (The Mortification of Sin) than to anything else he wrote.”

No one, outside of the apostles, peered so deeply into the human heart and the glory of Christ as this Prince of Puritans. Owen is thus unusually able to steel our gaze against the heart-fortresses of sin. His application of truth to the believer’s sin-slaying work is, at certain points, breathtaking. In the fall of 2013 I had a few dozen men in my church read The Mortification of Sin and a large handful said something like, “This is one of the most useful books I’ve ever read!” If you read one book the rest of this year, make it Owen’s classic. I promise your soul will say, “Thank you.”

0851510027mPrecious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks. One area where the Puritans uniquely excel is on the always pressing topic of spiritual warfare. When it comes to Satan’s schemes, Brooks knows best. I don’t think Banner of Truth is exaggerating when they say, “Brooks treated the seductive influence and terrible power of Satan in a way greatly more full and suggestive than in the literature of the present day.” Brooks takes on 38 (!) different favored devices of the Worm and gives specific remedies for each one. His insight into Satan’s ways are stunning. The final chapter, “Ten Special Rules Against Satan’s Devices” is pure gold. Spurgeon had a particular affection for Brooks, saying,

Had Brooks been a worldly man, his writings would have been most valuable; but since he was an eminent Christian, they are doubly so. He had the eagle eye of faith, as well as the eagle wing of imagination. He saw similes, metaphors, and allegories everywhere; but they were all consecrated to his Master’s service.

9781573581134mThe Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson. If there was an award for “The Most Readable Puritan” its recipient would surely be Thomas Watson. Joel Beeke says Watson stands out from all the rest because of his “depth of doctrine, clarity of expression, warmth of spirituality, love of application, and gift of illustration.” You really can’t go wrong with any of Watson’s works (All Things for Good and The Doctrine of Repentance are excellent), but I suggest The Art of Divine Contentment because the subject is a perennial struggle for every Christian. Launching off from Philippians 4:11, Watson writes, “For my part, I know not any ornament in religion that doth more bespangle a Christian, or glitter in the eye of God and man, than this of contentment. . . . If there is a blessed life before we come to heaven, it is the contented life.”

Tolle lege!