Book discussion, NT Wright's "Simply Christian"

Discussing NT Wright's Simply Christian.

I hope people jump on to this discussion. We will take it one week at a time. This is really opened ended. But just a chance to react to the book and offer some reflections. What you liked or didn't like but I hope he gives you a fresh way to understand Christianity in a winsome way today.

The first chapter was about Justice, or as he likes to put it, "Putting the World to Rights." It looks like he will uses this "Echoes of a voice" metaphor throughout. He asks the question on page 6, how is that we all have this sense of the world is not the way it ought to be, that it needs to be made right, and yet after millenia of debate and attempted solutions humanity seems no closer than it was 2000 years ago?

He quotes a Dr. Johnson who says everyone just wants "to be happy at home," and asks if this is a dream or a reality that we can persue. Is the dream of a just world a childish fantasy, or a world we hope to one day escape to with little we can do about it now, or is it a voice calling us to, to put things right and make us right? (pp. 8-9)

He goes on to argue that the Christian faith is among three great religious traditions that takes the third option. But of course people object that Christians have done a lot of nasty things and he responds saying yes and no. There are great stories of Christians doing great things and that these stories are not told enough. Christianity is relevant and something about it drives it to do something about whats wrong with the world. (pp. 12, 15)

I'll get us started with three basic questions:

1) Do you resonate with this sense of the world not being the way it should be?What do you think about how Wright describes it as echoes of a voice?

2) Do you agree that the aim of human endeavors "is to be happy at home"? Which way do you tend to view the dream of a better world: a childish fantasy, a place to escape to one day, or not a dream but a voice calling us to "being put to rights?"

3) What stories have you heard that have encouraged you about Christians doing great things that really make a difference?

Feel free to share anything else you liked so far.

My favorite reads in 2015

It is the time of year when every pumps there favorite books of the year.

Scot McKnight's list

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2015/12/11/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2015/

Kevin DeYoung's list

http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2015/12/10/top-ten-books-of-2015/

Christianity Today has numerous books that I have marked as things I would like to read maybe someday. Especially anything by Lauren Winner

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/january-february/christianity-todays-2016-book-awards.html

But here is my list of books I read this year. That are not in any particular order. I wish I would have read more but alas there is always next year and I still have two weeks left.

1) Faith Speaking Understanding by Kevin Vanhoozer

This was a book I used as the basis/inspiration for the "Summer Study" class we did in partnership Awakening. I actually got to meet Vanhoozer and talked to him about the class and he asked, "would you do it again?" He expressed the difficulty for even himself to teach to congregations about his theater metaphor for theology lived. This was a challenging read and it was an attempt by him to distill his larger works and move beyond theory to practice.

2) Prayer by Timothy Keller

I think I started this book in late 2014 and read it in January. There were many gems in this book but his advice for recovering a devotional practice was very helpful. He just released a devotional book going through all the Psalms in a year called, The Songs of Jesus.

3) Pastoral Theology by Thomas Oden

I read a lot of books about pastoral ministry this year. Many of them were either highly critical of modern excesses in large churches or more popular level leadership type books. There are always nuggets to take away but they often lack the sense of things that transcend our day. Oden specializes in the early church and aims in a lot of his writings to immerse in the wisdom of the church throughout the centuries. This is why I found his book so helpful, especially on topics like pastoral care, visitations for the sick and care for the poor. It is theological rich and practical and spoke to things a pastor ought to do regardless of the times. I don't share several of Oden's theological commitments but there was little in this book to dispute.

4) Soul Keeping by John Ortberg

This book kind of felt like Ortberg's tribute to Dallas Willard. It was easy to read and filled with a lot insight in caring for our neglected souls.

5) Spirituality of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann

Books on the Psalms fall into two categories: sentimental and fluffy devotional reading that ignores the insights of scholarship or overly technical scholarship that robs the Psalms of their heart. Breuggemann's aim in this book was to wed the two through a basic categorization of the Psalms as orientation (creation focused and innocent in outlook), disorientation (wrestling with sin, suffering, and evil), and reorientation (moving beyond the previous to a deeper view of God and life with him). He also included some wonderful reflections on the difficult parts of the Psalms dealing with suffering and calling on God to destroy one's enemies.

6) Shrink by Tim Shuttle and Deep Church by Jim Belcher

These two books were from people of contrasting church traditions (Anabaptist and Reformed respectively) but both had good insights into what the church should look like today.

A Review of Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture

Recently, I have been binging on several different books about "how to do church." Many popular books give you a model to copy. For example, Sticky Church is very popular and essentially argues sermon based small groups is the solution for your ministry. I still think the exception in recent years is Tim Keller's Center Church which bridges the gap between theologically heavy books and practical models. My shift has been to read outside of the sort of "young, restless, and reformed crowd." Scot McKnight's blog is largely to blame for exposing me to voices I don't normally encounter much (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/). I think in general the questions I have are What is it that the church ought to always do no matter what? How can I be faithful and not fall into the temptations of wanting bigger, better, and more exposure in a celebrity culture?

First, I read Slow Church which basically tried to take the slow food movement as an analogy for church. It essentially argued for a holistic community that reflected the local terrior and was against cookie cutter models and "franchise church." Thats all good. I just felt the analogy was too stretched and they didn't make an argument that was theologically robust enough for me.

Because Slow Church was endorsed by the authors of Shrink and vice versa I did expect much. But it turns out Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture was a much better book. These books follow the clarion call of Eugene Peterson that what matters in ministry is faithfulness not success or effectiveness. (Keller like always does yes/no both/and middle way and says "fruitfulness" is the Biblical metaphor).

Shrink is highly critical of megachurch models that doesn't sufficiently challenge cultural idols. But instead embraces American ideals of pragmatism, techniques, and thinks success in the kingdom is equal to a bigger and better ministry. Suttle makes a great point that I often wonder about, something is wrong when the only Pastors who speak at conferences and have their books published have huge churches, as if all the pastors of smaller churches have nothing good to say. The book is divided into three parts. 1) How are attempts to be great undermine the call to be good.  2) How we need to have a robust theology of the church with stories and virtues not models, methods, and strategies. 3) What the essential virtues are.

What is good about this book is the great illustrations he gives tied to good biblical principles about how the church ought to be, what kind of people we ought to be, and not thinking some technique, model, or strategy is what will solve it while inside we remain no different than the world. He advocates church leaders should be vulnerable and should seek to cooperate with others not compete against them. We should have a culture of brokenness, patience, and fidelity. To all of these I say, yes, yes, and yes.

However, I do not think all models or strategies are all bad or that as an organization the church cannot think about how to better govern itself and equip its members to live more like Christ. The church is an organism and an organization. I don't think just because a church is big it is bad or that it has abandoned what it means to be the church. Suttle makes the point on several occasions to consider whether God is calling your church to shrink, to literally have less people. I don't see how that is any better than when I have heard megachurch pastors say you are not faithful if your church is not growing. Maybe your church is shrinking because you are a jerk and have poor leadership skills? I know this is not what Suttle is trying to say. I only point out to guard against either extremes.

In the end, Shrink is aiming at a prophetic wake up call to the church in America, to prune itself. To get back to the essence of life in Christ together, no matter the results numerically or otherwise. I agree to a large extent, but being a good steward involves not just good character but also good management. The church is God's household (1 Tim. 4:15) and this requires both Christian character and good management.

A Review of What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done

I have increasingly found that it is difficult to keep track of all the different things I need to do. I remember trying to use a Franklin Covey planner and being rather unsuccessful. We even got an official training day to go with it by a guy preaching the gospel of Franklin Covey, that the planner literally saved his life. Add to this that our technological society has made it possible to consume information at a dizzying rate, and it becomes rather confusing what to focus on next. So when I noticed a few good reviews about Matt Perman's book I thought I would check it out.

What's Best Next is a very easy and quick read. You may not even have to read it all but just jump to the highlights at the end of the chapter and resources at the back. Perman designed the book for busy people, but you should not think there are not worthwhile details in the chapters. The book aims to sift through all the business books and productivity books with a Christian lens. The best part about Perman's book is the fact you feel like you don't need to go read the dozens of books out there like it. This is a one stop shop taking all best stuff from books like Getting Things Done.

The book has seven parts and the first two seek to give us the proper motivation and direction for being productive. In the first part he argues that efficiency is not the aim but effectiveness. We ought to view effectiveness, however, with an eternal perspective. We need to be God-centered and other-centered in the things we do. We ought to work out of gratitude and desire to love God and others, not out of a need to make a name for ourselves or gain God's acceptance.

The second part of the book seeks to connect productivity more closely with the gospel. Matt Perman has served in John Piper's Desiring God ministry for years, so it should come as no surprise to those familiar with Piper's ministry that everything flows from the doctrine of justification. This is the only part of the book where I have some criticism. His tagline is "the only way to be productive is to realize you don't have to be productive." There is a lot of good stuff in chapter 7 and it is a very clear explanation of the gospel. Briefly, I think it could have been more clear that because Christ has paid our unpayable debt out of love for us, we now know that we owe him our life and we desire to do all that we can to please him, to love him, in everything we do (1 Cor. 6:19-20; Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Jn. 5:1-3). Certainly, good works do not earn us favor with God, and our good works flow from our new life in Christ. But it is because we have been united with him, we participate with him by the Spirit to do what we ought to do (2 Pet. 1:3-7; Phil. 2:12-13). On page 121 he interviews theologian Michael Horton and here it gets at these things more clearly.

My nitpicking aside, the best stuff in this book is in part 3-7 (chs. 11-24). He arranges it all under the acronym D.A.R.E. - Define, Architect, Reduce, and Execute. Let me give a few highlights that I think were helpful. The first is to establish routines in your week, not lists. Create the appropriate to-do lists within your routines. The point is to order your life around your purpose and to not let it be dictated too much by external forces. (In Franklin Covey language this was the "third wall" of the non-urgent priorities of others). He also had some helpful tips about handling email, generating more time through delegation and automating, and how to handle interruptions. There is a wealth of good tips here. But, as I was reminded this last week, all these things are recommendations. It is really about getting you to think through some principles to make your work more effective.

Lastly, I really appreciated his emphasis on using your work to love your neighbor and bless people, particularly efforts to alleviate poverty throughout the world. It guarded this book from saying its about God, and then sounding like its really just about you and your productivity. It isn't. It is about God enabling you to become an agent of loving people with all the gifts and resources he has given you.

Silicon Valley is full of super A-types like Matt Perman who can't sit still for more than 30-secs. Come to think of it, perhaps the strongest criticism of this book would be devoting more attention to rest. All in all, I would strongly recommend this, especially to all of the super busy tech people I know. Just make sure your routines include ceasing and remembering you can't do everything. (If only your employers would recognize this!) For as Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

Matt Perman. What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014.

Recommended Books - Resolving Everyday Conflict (The Peacemaker)

I don't know about you, but I really struggle with conflict. As difficult as it is, conflict needs to be faced in order to be resolved. The problem is we do not always address it in a way that is gives us a sense of peace or is helpful (instead of harmful) to others.

Some of us ignore it, brush it under the rug, and hope it goes away. But this often enables another person to continue harmful behavior while bitterness, resentment, and anger bubble just under the surface. A single spark will cause an eruption and often a vengeful response.

Some of us become aggressive and seek to deal with conflict right away but often without much gentleness and a lot of misunderstanding. We wonder why people we often seek out to resolve a problem go running the other direction, meanwhile we label them as "dysfunctional" or unhealthy.

Resolving Everyday Conflict is a very short and simple book that gives four basic principles to resolving conflict in a way that fosters change and reconciliation. It is basically a shortened version of the very popular and excellent book The Peacemaker. Both are written by Ken Sande who has founded Peacemaker ministries as a result of the popularity of these books. It doesn't just follow Biblical principles laid out by Jesus, but Gospel principles that work to change our hearts to be more like Christ and be agents of peace and change in other peoples lives.

The book covers the 4 "G's" of conflict:
- G1 is Glorify God - bring God into your situation and seek his guidance and help to bring resolution and peace (this doesn't mean using him to rain down judgment!).
- G2 is Get the Log Out - own up to your part of the conflict (the step most frequently skipped).
- G3 is Gently Restore - help others own their part of the conflict (probably the most misused).
- G4 is Go and Be Reconciled (perhaps the most difficult).
The four principles sound simple on the surface and rather elementary, but if we are honest with ourselves, many of us are stuck in the third grade when it comes to resolving conflict. We might get 2 out of the four and that only with partial credit.

Sande asserts that the way we often try to make peace is to use some authority, whether our own or God's, in order to say why the other person is wrong and needs to change. We often believe our judgment of the situation is the right one. We overlook our own faults or we misplace them. We need to stop thinking we can change them or that they are a hopeless cause. We don't have God's perspective on the whole thing. He does desire to use us to be a catalyst for change in others. But let him do his job and you do yours. We have to acknowledge we contribute to the problem and begin with confessing our own sin and contribution. It doesn't matter whose portion is bigger, a speck in your own eye should always look like a log to you! Then by God's grace we may gain a hearing to gently point out the speck in another person's eye. This is difficult to do but we have to be gracious and we have to have their best interests in mind. Lastly, we must forgive and pray that the other person is able to as well and thus be reconciled.

It may sound like a step by step process. It isn't. Its an art. But it is gospel art woven by God to reveal his glory, the sufficiency of his Son, for our good. I hope you check out Resolving Everyday Conflict and find peace in all your relationships through Christ Jesus.

My Top 5 Books I read this year

I read a lot of good stuff this year but I did not read as much as I have in recent years. But I will give a few that really stick out to me (in no particular order).

1) Center Church, by Tim Keller

I started this book last December and finished it very quickly. But our Elder Board has been working through it together this year. I simply can't think of a better book out there on how to think through what faithful ministry should look like where you live. It is aimed at pastors and is basically a textbook so it is comprehensive. It will be a common resource for us sometime. His insights on contextualization, the church and culture, and the "missional church" are fantastic. Pretty much everything I have been wrestling with in ministry for the last five years is found in this one book.

2) The Cross of Christ, by John Stott

A modern classic on the subject of the atonement. Easy enough for anyone (in that it isn't bogged down by complicated jargon) but it is very dense. A must read when trying to think through what is meant by the claim "Christ died for our sins."

3) Is There Meaning in the Text? The Bible, The Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge, by Kevin Vanhoozer

This book is the main reason why I didn't read a lot more this year because it was a monster. It deals with one of the biggest problems in our day - interpretation. He is funny, quirky, exhaustive, and precise. But this is by no means an easy read. Anyone who studied literary criticism or was bombarded by postmodern philosophy in college would benefit greatly from it.

4) Everyday Church, by Steve Chester and Tim Timmis

I am now using this book as training for our group leaders. Its simple, clear, and avoids some of the extremes among "missional church" guys. In some ways this book is Christianity 101, but it does depth and great questions to ask yourself, and your group, if you really are doing what you ought to be doing. We have a bunch of copies in the church lobby if you want to check it out.

5) Tie Every Good Endeavor: Connecting your Work to God's Work by Tim Keller and Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry by Mike Wilkerson

I can't decide between the two so I will cheat and recommend 6 books and call five by using a tie (annoying I know). The first ought to be a must read because so many struggle with finding satisfaction in their work today. In some ways, work is the major idol of our day (definitely in Silicon Valley) because it is one of the primary ways we try to create meaning for our lives in a secular culture. This book is just good. We had a great time walking through it in our Faith and Work class.

The second, Redemption, is a very pastoral book in that it gently, lovingly, walks you through overcoming serious wounds and sins in your life. I really enjoyed it and am hoping and praying to have a group in our church walk through it in the future as a part of Redemption Groups for those struggling with abuse, pornography, eating disorders, or whatever else is preventing you from living life to its fullest in Christ.

Books & Blogs for Helpful content on the reliability of the Bible

On how the books of the Bible made it into the canon:
FF Bruce, The Canon of Scripture

    This is a classic book that essentials walks chronologically through how the Bible came about. The last three chapters are the most important and where he gives his conclusions in light of the evidence. The rest in merely an overview from Moses to the present day. Despite being 20 years old and dated areas and more recent debates in scholarship, it is still a very good book.

Michael Kruger, Canon Revisited

   This is a more recent book that addresses different interpretations on how the Canon came to be. It gives more detail than Bruce on the basic content of some disputed works and early debates surrounding them. His argument is that the canon is self-authenticating but he still uses the tried and true criteria of "apostolic, catholic, and orthodox."

Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels

    This book was recently updated and one of the best out there on the subject. Jason and I studied under Blomberg but that isn't why we recommend this book. We recommend it, because its excellent scholarship. Blomberg is always fair and clear. He goes over many issues like supposedly contradictory passages but his main concern is demonstrating the gospels do present an accurate view of who Jesus really was.

Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

    I have heard this one is really good, and if serious scholars who question the truth of the gospels respect it - it must be good.

One of the foremost experts on NT manuscripts these days is Dan Wallace.
    This is a great summary article of the major issues and some great recommendations for introductory books on the subject.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/03/21/an-interview-with-daniel-b-wallace-on-the-new-testament-manuscripts/

Dan Wallace also has an extensive blog that goes into a TON of nitty gritty.
http://danielbwallace.com

Recommended Books - Reason for God

I wanted to get into the habit of provided reviews of books that we recommend. Pastors often read more than the general population so of course we run into good and bad books all the time. But there are some books that stand out. Ones that we think will be of benefit for you. Considering our current series of "Rock and Hard Place" (which is attempting to address controversial issues facing Christianity today), it seems natural to recommend a book that addresses such questions.

There are plenty of books that address many difficult questions but if I had to chose the first one to go to it would be Reason for God by Tim Keller. This is the book that I think first put him in the more popular consciousness of Christians in America. It came out around the same time as other books by the "New Athiests," Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Hitchens' (God is not Great). Reason for God was also a New York Times bestseller. It is one of the more popular apologetics book to come out recently. For years many people have been recommending C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity or Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. But those books are dated a bit even though they are quite good. Reason for God is good because it addresses many of the current nuances of people's objections to Christianity and faith in God in a way that is accessible. The basic arguments don't change and are in fact as old as philosophy itself. But the way they are presented, their overall tone, and their concerns often do.

Let me give an example. The book begins with what I think is the most common objection. The objection is that their cannot only be one true religion and that it is arrogant to do so. Many may take a more strict logical approach to this objection by appealing to the historical truth claims of Christianity versus Buddhism, or that monotheistic faith is more rational than other views of God. Those may be true, but Keller pinpoints that the objection is more based on the perceived arrogance of claiming only one religion is true and that we cannot know which one is. He then demonstrates that such a claim about the nature of the world's religions is in itself an arrogant claim that assumes it has the one objective all-knowing perspective. All worldviews and religions are making claims about the nature of religion and how we can know that it is true. What matters is we realize our assumptions and recognize it is just as much as, if not more so, an act of faith to believe in this one or that one. But that doesn't mean there are not better reasons to believe in one religion or another.

Reason for God is separated into two parts. The first part address objections to Christianity and the second part addresses reasons for Christianity. The first part covers seven major objections: there can't be just one true religion, how could a good God allow suffering, Christianity is the enemy of freedom, why is the church responsible for so much evil, how can a loving God send people to hell, science has disproved Christianity, and you can't take the Bible literally. The second part covers seven reasons for faith in Christ: Clues of God (which are basic arguments for his existence), knowledge of God, the problem of sin, religion versus the gospel, the true story of the cross, the reality of the resurrection, and lastly the dance of God.

If I had any critique, it would be that some of the arguments for Christianity focus on making sense of basic Christian principles and neglect historical evidences that demonstrate such a belief is warranted. Its one thing to say Christ was crucified, buried and rose on the third day. Its a whole other thing to say what that means and how. Keller focuses on the later, rather than any historical evidence for the former like many other apologetic type books. The book does not deal with how the Bible came to be or whether we can trust it. But no worries (shameless plug) - I am doing a sermon series in November on those very subjects (Lord willing they will be profitable for you). By and large Keller is successful at achieving the basic aim of the book: faith in the God of the Bible is not crazy, but in fact quite reasonable.

What are some books that you have found beneficial for faith in Christ? Or ones that have been a source of great doubt?

Check out Reason for God by Tim Keller and share you insights with us. You can get it at Amazon or almost any major bookstore (Christian or otherwise).