JRF's #41 - Stop Loving the World by William Greenhill

To continue with the Puritan theme from last post, here is a great little book based on a sermon series by 17th century preacher William Greenhill.  In six short chapters, Greenhill expounds on the important but often misunderstood and ignored command of I John 2:15: "Do not love the world or the things in the world.If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

I commend this book as a tool for God to both wound, heal, and redirect your heart from being enraptured by corrupted creation to being overwhelmed by the Incorruptible Creator.

JRF's #40 - The Mortification of Sin by John Owen

I, along with the editors of this book, agree with J.I. Packer's assessment of John Owen's writings:

"I did not say that is was easy to read them! - that would not be true; yet I do venture to say that the labour involved in plodding through these ill-arranged and tediously-written treatises will find them abundantly worthwhile."

This book was hard to read, hard to understand, and even harder to apply.  But it is a gift to all who seek to take their sin as seriously as God does and to join Him in waging war against the enemy of our souls.  Owen has an uncanny ability to expose the darkness of the sinful heart and strip away all the masks we are so prone to try  cover our soul-disease with.  It is true that this book took me a long time to read due to it's old English style.  It is equally true however, that it took me many months to read due to the many times I had to step away from it to recover from the piercing convictions it brought about in my heart.  Many times I felt like Owen had been watching me the previous day and then wrote the chapter I was reading specifically for me.

This book will help you feel the seriousness of your sin.  And this is a good thing.  As Piper states in the Forward: "by making life easier for ourselves in minimizing the nature and seriousness of our sin, we become great victims of it...What Owen offers is not quick relief, but long-term, deep growth in grace that can make strong, healthy trees where there was once a fragile sapling."

The version I read came out of the below collection, which I recommend as it has some helpful footnotes added by the editors to help you push through some of the difficult passages and wording.  I was hoping to read the entire anthology this year, but that ain't gonna happen:

 

 

"The saints, whose souls breathe after deliverance from sin's perplexing rebellion, know there is no safety against it but in a constant warfare."

"But now if a man be so under the power of his lust that he has nothing but law to oppose it with, if he cannot fight against it with Gospel weapons, but deals with it altogether with hell and judgement, which are the proper arms of the law, it is most evident that sin has possessed itself of his will and affections to a very great prevelancy and conquest...What Gospel principles do not, legal motives cannot do."

JRF's #38 - Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears

Our community group read through this book together over the last few months.  I had previously read it when it was first published and had enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to reviewing it with the group.  Overall I would say the experience was good.  The simple truths about Jesus’ nature, message, work, and impact are explored and explained in blunt Driscoll style.  It was refreshing to meditate on the uniqueness and glory of the God/Man.  In addition it was thrilling to see some in the group discover different truths, perspectives and implications about Christ for the first time.

I used to be one of those guys who would rush to Driscoll’s defense whenever his unorthodox methodology was under attack (which is often).  I find myself compelled to defend Driscoll less and less these days.

When I read Vintage Jesus as a young youth pastor, I delighted in the funny and shocking stories Driscoll uses to illustrate his points ("the kids will think I’m cool when I use this one!").  I won’t go into detail describing these illustrations, that would make me guilty of the same borderline filthy talk that I am accusing him of.  Suffice it to say that I believe his points could have been made without the explicit details of child sexual abuse, MTV, details of the contents of supermarket magazine racks, and postulations about Jesus farting with his disciples.  I know that Driscoll would (and has) said that he is just trying to make the timeless truths of Scripture relevant to the wicked culture in which we live, however the longer I walk with the Lord, the more I see that the purpose of God’s condescending revelation of Himself is not to drag Him down to our level but to call us up to His.  The ultimate purpose of the incarnation was not for Christ to become more like us, or even more palpable to us, it was for Him to make a way for us to know Him, be known by Him and be conformed to His likeness.  The revelation of Christ’s light shows us the depth of our darkness and displays the true relevance and irrelevance of all else.  Driscoll seems to be trying to illustrate the brightness of Christ’s light by detailing more of our darkness – effective up to a point but ultimately counterproductive in my opinion.  For example, to end the book with a reference to Sean “Puffy” Combs instead of exalting the glorious Risen Christ about whom this book is about is a dumb distraction at best.

Perhaps the reason Driscoll's crassness so clearly bothered me this time around is that "coarse jesting" is a sin with which I am increasingly being convicted of in my own life.

With that rather large caveat (which could probably be applied to most of Driscoll's ministry, although he has seemed to tone things down the older he gets) I would recommend this book to you for the purpose of expanding your understanding and awe of the person and work of the One King to whom every knee will eventually bow.

JRF's #37 - After You've Blown It: Reconnecting with God and Others - by Erwin Lutzer

In this small, practical book, Erwin Luzter (pastor of Moody church in Chicago) speaks Gospel truth to a situation that we all have experience in - sin - or  "blowing it".

This book was an encouragement to me as I tend to be the kind of person that easily focuses on the weight of sin and when I "blow it" I am prone to let the cloud of my sin eclipse the sun of God's grace and forgiveness.  This book was great reminder that not only is that foolish, but compounds my problem by thinking that by wallowing in misery I am somehow able to earn God's favor.  Truly realizing the seriousness of sin should not push us away from God but push us to to the Cross.

While it does not even come close to plumbing the depths of the Gospel and its implications for our daily lives and relationships - and here and there where a few cheesy catch phrases that I found unhelpful and misleading -  I was routinely impressed with how concisely Lutzer was able to illustrate and explain powerful truths and their applications in this short book.

For that reason I would commend this book to any and all who have ever felt that their sin is beyond forgiveness and that they have "blown it" one time too many.

 

(speaking about the Prodigal Son) "...the father's love cuts both ways:  It beckons him to return, but also magnifies his own rebellion.  If the young man returns, he will have to face his own guilt and shame in the presence of undeserved love.  Grace is often more difficult to accept than the law wielded with a heavy club." - p.20

"In light of God's grace, it is sheer arrogance for us to hang on to our guilt." - p.45

"Grace should create within us a passion for Christ that is greater than our passion to sin." - p. 67

 

 

 

JRF's # 36 - A Quiet Reality By Emilio Marrero

In this memoir, Chaplain Emilio Marrero recounts his experiences with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Following the invasion his unit set up operations at Sadaam's former palace at Babylon.   Marrero soon found himself leading efforts to keep the Babylon Museum and the ruins of the ancient city from getting completely looted in the post-invasion chaos.  Eventually he was dubbed the unofficial "Mayor of Babylon" by the locals because of his influence, compassionate advocacy for the locals, and wise negotiating between the mission of the U.S. Military, the needs and desires of the local Iraqis, the demands of politicians, and the needs of a frail but immensely important archaeological site.

As a fairly new Chaplain myself, this account was both encouraging and instructive.  Marrero's ministry in Iraq is a great example of immense potential for influence - politically and spiritually - that a creative, motivated, and Christ-led chaplain has.  At many times I found myself stoping and jotting down ideas for my own ministry that were inspired by Marrero's initiatives.   Other times I felt my heart convicted by the determination and passion with which he pursued people and initiated ministries from the ground up.  Too often have I let the discouragements and obstacles of military ministry drown out the many unique and powerful opportunities for Gospel influence.  It was also a great encouragement to look at the Chaplain Corps through the eyes of a Chaplain who genuinely loves Jesus and people and kept the Main thing the Main thing.

I only had a few criticisms of the book: (1) ironically it seemed at times that Marrero's quasi-Arminian theology was at odds with the major theme of the book - God's quiet, behind-the-scenes sovereignty and (2) the book could have used another round of proof-reading as there were a small amount of minor typos scattered about.

Throughout the book Marrero uses the phrase "quiet reality" to describe the intangible experiences and forces behind the types of things that make the headlines of newspapers, military reports, and facebook statuses (statusi?).  The Ultimate "Quiet Reality" of Emilio Marrero's story is that God is and will continue to be working through the events of the Iraqi Freedom both in the lives of the invaders/liberators and conquered/liberated.

This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in Military Ministry, Biblical Archaeology, or just likes a good story about the Grace and power of God shown in and through a willing servant.