Moving on from the gospel?

I’ve often found myself reading or studying Romans over the last few months. While reading it recently I was struck by two observations.

• The book is written to Christians.
• Paul has a lot to say about the gospel, the good news of what Jesus has done to pay the price for our sins and make us right with God.

I know these seem like quite obvious observations. You’d have to not be paying much attention to notice them. However, these simple observations do have some significant implications when combined.

I have been in Christian settings where the gospel gets quarantined into something just for those who are not yet Christians. It gets treated like a gateway into faith, after which you move onto more “advanced” aspects of the Christian life and leave it behind. The main sermon becomes about how to live the Christian life and the gospel gets compressed into a mini message at the end for unbelievers that the Christians tune out on.

When we read Romans we find quite a different way of thinking about the gospel. Romans does not appear to have primarily been written as an evangelistic message. Instead it is written to Christians. Paul talks about his readers having faith that is being proclaimed throughout all the world (Romans 1:8) and obedience known to all (Romans 16:19). But despite their impressive progress in the Christian life, for chapter after chapter Paul works through the problem of our sin, the futility of our attempts to work our way right with God and how we are made right with God through faith as a result of what Jesus has done.

Evidently Paul doesn’t think the gospel is just a gateway into faith after which we move onto other things or he wouldn’t be reminding these Christians about it. While Paul certainly has a lot to say later in the book about what living a Christian life looks like, but he is so intent on bringing the focus of the believers he writes to back to the gospel. He wants them to be thinking about it and talking about it. You can feel the passion he has for it in his writing.

Let’s head Paul’s example and passion. We need to make sure that the gospel is central and something we keep coming back to no matter how spiritually advanced we think we are. In my next post on the topic I’ll be dealing with more of why it matters that we don’t “move on” from the gospel.

Quotable- Complaining

"Complaining isn’t just an insignificant, minor, everyday sin. It’s a slap in the face of God. When we complain, we’re saying that God hasn’t been good to us. We’re making a loud statement to ourselves and to the rest of the world that God hasn’t been a good master. As we step back and survey our lives and our circumstances, we come to the following conclusion: God did something wrong. Sure, he’s gotten us out of some jams. Sure, he did the whole salvation thing for us. He’s thrown us a bone every now and then. And yes, he’s given us a family and a house and a car and all that stuff. But overall we’re not too happy with the way God has run things. If it was up to us, things would be a lot different. And so we complain."

From The Greener Grass Conspiracy by Stephen Altrogge

Book review: Stephen Altrogge- The greener grass conspiracy

The Greener Grass Conspiracy
Stephen Altrogge
Buy the book at amazon.com


In The Greener Grass Conspiracy, Stephen Altrogge explains the importance of contentment in the Christian life and how we can develop it.

This is quite a funny book. The author has a great knack for one liners and funny stories. While it is a funny and enjoyable read, it also packs quite a convicting punch. His descriptions of how we think and talk when we are discontented were uncomfortably close to how I think and talk sometimes. Also incredibly convicting was what he wrote about how our discontentment and complaining can be like telling God he doesn’t know what he is doing and isn’t doing his job properly. Ouch!

Thankfully the book isn’t a big guilt trip about our lack of contentment. Instead, the book shows us how we have built up idols in our life that are fuelling our discontentment and shows us how the gospel addresses the problem. The book constantly and very helpfully keeps coming back to what Jesus has done for us. Likewise, there is a strong emphasis on the character of God, particularly his goodness towards us. That is something we often overlook because God’s goodness often doesn’t come in the forms we would expect or like.

Given the way our advertising filled culture teaches us to be discontent and our hearts all too easily latch onto things we think will make us happy and fulfilled, I think this is a book that all Christians would benefit from.


Review copy courtesy of Crossway and Netgalley

Resource roundup 29 June 2011

• Check out this week's podcast from PRI's the World In Words for some interesting discussion on the on-going impact of the King James bible translation and some of the issues those translating the bible today deal with.
• If you are looking for some new music, check out Ohio Avenue's album The Sound. You candownload it for free at Noise Trade. I've been listening to it a lot and have really enjoyed it.
• You can download heaps of talks from this year's Gospel Coalition conference for free at iTunes. I haven't had a chance to listen to many of the talks yet but there looks to be some very interesting ones.
  

Quotable- He knows where you dwell

Jesus knows where you dwell. Meditate on it. Rejoice in it! Whether you live in an isolated Midwestern town of five thousand or feel lost in a metropolis of five million, Jesus knows where you live. Whether you attend, or perhaps serve as pastor of, a congregation of fifty or a mega-church of five thousand, Jesus knows where you dwell. He knows the temptations you face, the pressures you feel, the fear that perhaps you’ve been misplaced or marginalized or lost in the shuffle of life and the countless concerns that our Lord must deal with on a daily basis. Fear not! Jesus knows where you dwell. You haven’t been abandoned, far less ignored. Your life and ministry are as important to Jesus as that of any Christian in any church in any city in any country. You may feel as if your community is a modern Pergamum, devoted to idolatry and immorality and the public ridicule of our glorious Savior. But of this you can rest assured: Jesus has sovereignly and strategically placed you there as his witness, to hold forth his name and to display his glory. That is why, contrary to the title of this meditation, every city is Christ’s City. Jesus knows where you dwell.

from To the One Who Conquers: 50 Daily Meditations on the Seven Letters of Revelation 2-3 by Sam Storms

Featured song: Brooke Fraser- Pliable

Book review: Ken Sande and Kevin Johnson- Resolving everyday conflict

Resolving Everyday Conflict
Ken Sande and Kevin Johnson
Buy the book at amazon.com
Buy the audiobook at christianaudio.com

In Resolving Everyday Conflict, Ken Sande and Kevin Johnson teach on how to deal with conflict in a manner that is biblical and leads to real reconciliation.

The book is quite short (128 pages or about 3.5 hours in audio). The thing which makes this book particularly valuable is how gospel centred it is. The authors are really clear about what the gospel is and how it has implications for how we deal with conflict. They are likewise helpfully clear about what the bible teaches forgiveness is and how God’s forgiveness of us provides a model for our forgiving of other people. Also helpful is the structure they provide for approaching conflict solving- Glorify God, Get the log out of your own eye, Gently restore and Go and be reconciled.

This book will be most helpful if you read it with an actual conflict you are facing in mind. I found when I got a lot more out of it when I started thinking about what I was hearing/reading when I considered it in light of recent interactions I’d had with people, rather than just trying to learn general principles to apply sometime in the future.

One thing that annoyed me about the book was occasional plugs for the author’s mediation service. It also took me a little while to get used to the audiobook narrators voice. Other than these very minor complaints, I thought it was a great book.

Review copy courtesy of christianaudio.com

Quotable- Undeserved grace

"Part of the message of Christ’s death, God’s sacrificing his own Son for humanity, is that even at our best and brightest, at our most spot-on and well-intentioned, we are incapable of being the people we would need to be in order to get to God. So I am more than just a person who sins; I am a sinful person. On my own I am fundamentally, unchangeably full of sin, no matter how good I try to get. My only hope for a future apart from my sin is to accept the one gift I can never deserve: Christ’s sacrifice."

Lisa Velthouse in Craving Grace

Book review: Lisa Velthouse- Craving Grace

Craving Grace
Lisa Velthouse
Buy it at amazon.com

In Craving Grace, Lisa Velthouse shares about her very intense and at times very public attempts to measure up to what she thought a good Christian should be, the failings that brought it all unstuck and the discoveries about God’s grace she made in the process.

Lisa is quite a compelling writer. I got through the book quite quickly because it was an enjoyable and at times quite thought provoking read. In places she is very honest about some of her failings or things she has believed or thought in the past that weren’t very biblical. Some readers might find it a bit shocking but I appreciated it. Although my experiences have been in some ways quite different, I could certainly relate to some of it. Thankfully the book doesn’t just talk about the ways she feel short but also really beautifully reflects on how God’s grace is something we cannot earn but are given as a gift.

The main thing I didn’t like about the book was that the chapters not all being in the order events happened sometimes made it a little bit harder to follow the story than was probably necessary.

I think all Christians could benefit from the message about God’s grace this book presents, however this book would be particularly helpful for those who feel like they need to earn God’s approval.


review copy courtesy of netgalley.com

Quotable- Being different

God intends us, his people, to be different from the world around us. He does not mean for this to look arbitrary, such as having a special handshake or using odd language. No, of far greater significance, he means for us to reflect his character. It will look like a concern for justice, a willingness to give of our- selves, a love and care for our enemies and those who would hurt us. We should be marked as God’s people because we share in God’s character.

- Mark Dever in The Message of The Old Testament

Assorted updates and news

It's been a bit quiet around here. Sorry about that! Between a quite intense study and research load, having lots of things on the go in the ministry I help lead and applying for jobs this blog got a bit neglected. Hopefully things should start to get a bit calmer for a little while so giving this blog an overhaul is well overdue. Here is some of what I have planned for the blog over the next few weeks and months-

• The current layout isn't that great so I will be working on a new one. 
• I'll be introducing a new section called "quotable" which will feature thought-provoking quotes from books I've been reading. 
• The musings section will be getting revived, provided I can come up with something worthwhile to say. 
• Of course there will be more book reviews. Books I will be reviewing soon include Craving Grace by Lisa Velthouse, The Greener Grass Conspiracy by Stephen Altrogge, Bloodlines by John Piper and Half The Church by Carolyn Custis James.
• There will also be more resource roundup posts happening. Let me know if you come across something you think I should post.
• I've signed up for the Amazon Associates program and will likely integrate that into this blog soon. All that means is that if I link to a book on amazon and one of you buys it, i get a small commission that will go towards buying more books. I'll update the links policy page when I introduce it.

In other news, I've just set up a new blog focusing on cheap non-fiction Kindle books. If you've got a Kindle, check it out and subscribe at cheapnonfiction.com