What is the Greatest of All Protestant "Heresies"? - an interesting perspective on assurance from Ligonier.
Faithful Wounds - "Finding fault is the easiest thing in the world. Everyone can do it. We can find fault in our friends, in our relatives, in our own children and parents and siblings. No one has to teach a class on fault-finding. So when you see something in a friend that you believe needs to be corrected, first consider whether you are just on a fault-finding spree. Lay off for a while. Pray about it. Look in the mirror and see if you have any faults of your own. Don’t be hasty in bringing a rebuke to a friend."
Four Good Reasons To Read Good Books - This was one of the things that inspired a friend and I to undertake a re-vamp of our church library. It's a long, slow process but we are forging ahead.
Getting into the Word - This post made me think long and hard about how I approach my time studying the Word. I hope to use these resourced to grow even more in my love for the Word!
So I've been waiting to blog on this book for a good long while. I probably read it about a year ago and when I finally sat down to go through it again to see what I wanted to highlight in this post it was so very difficult because there is so much good theology here. "Gospel Wakefulness" by Jared C. Wilson was recommended to me by a very dear Sister. I don't want this to turn into a really long post and I'm looking at all the page tabs I put in the book thinking that there's no way I can put all that in here. I will try my utmost to be brief (as difficult as that can be for me)...
The main thought behind the book is to awaken us to the wonder of the Gospel and in that realization we will be "treasuring Christ more greatly and savoring his power more sweetly" (p. 24). When this is deep within our consciences it will carry us through the emotional highs and lows that occur in this life. Wilson believes that when we get caught in a mind-set of measuring our perfection and relating that to our assurance. This will only lead to being timid and fearful. But if "your measure of assurance is the perfection of Jesus Christ, you are ripe for gospel wakefulness"(p. 28). I appreciated that he also pointed out that as we experience this waking up to the Gospel it will more often then not be a gradual process, not a quantum leap forward (p. 31).
This gospel wakefulness occurs in two steps: "be utterly broken and be utterly awed. But neither of these things are things you can really do. They are things only God can do for you." (p. 35). As he elaborates on the broken-ness that is required, Wilson says "God wants us broken so that any power in us can be undeniably attributed to him. If self-reliance could reliably and ultimately contribute to our success and fulfillment, God's glory would be diminished, having to share precious space with our lesser glory" (p. 40). I love this - when we feel broken and worn down, we can look to God and see that it is part of His process in refining us rather than wondering what went wrong. As we are being rebuilt as God would have us, we have a new perspective on sin. Previously, we wanted to just escape the consequences of sin but now we truly feel the wait of our sin. "Gospel-wakened people want to be free of sin itself, not just the guilt of it" (p. 53).
Our focus become the Gospel, and being part of it.
What happens in the experience of gospel wakefulness is a satisfaction so complete that it fixes the center of our affections on God alone, in Christ alone, by his Spirit alone. That is what worship is, after all: proclaiming worth, giving weight to something in the revolving of our affections around it... [and] as our idols are razed and shown to be impotent to save, is not an adding of God to our lives but an adding of ours to his. His Spirit doesn't merely enter my heart; he fills it, expands it, prevails over it (p. 60, 78).
I don't know about you, but all I can think when I read this is, "Yes!! That is what I want!"
A small section on theology was exactly what I needed to hear. Wilson says that our problems are not rooted in our theology (ie. Reformed, Calvinism) but the lack of gospel wakefulness within these traditions. Often people are familiar with all the parts but struggle to put them together into an experience that leaves them changed by God. "Gospel wakefulness changes theological pursuit. It reorients knowledge to become the means to knowing God, not knowing stuff...True theology galvanizes our affections toward God, not toward theology...What gospel wakefulness accomplishes, then, is the bringing of one's heart to theological study, not just one's mind" (p. 84-85). I have to admit to being slightly embarrassed at times when I admit that I have a Reformed theology position because so many people who make the same claims are so lacking in grace and brotherly love (just check out the comments section in the majority of Reformed blogs). I pray that each one of them will experience gospel wakefulness and we can make the Reformed tradition one that attracts people rather than repels them by our treatment of others.
In discussing how this wakefulness manifests in our daily lives and causes worship, I adored what Wilson said about each and every day:
The truth is, the day does not belong to us. It is not our day to do with as we please. We serve a sovereign God. He created the end from the beginning, knows our future exhaustively, and is firmly in control. He made our days and they belong to him. As such, isn't it a bit arrogant to begin with the idea that each day is ours and then worry about fitting God in? Instead, we should work at the humble awe of knowing all of our moments, every millisecond, waking or sleeping, are perfectly accounted for within the economy of heaven (p. 90).
But at the same time, we need to be aware of being hyper-spiritual. "The gospel makes us Christians, not ascetics. Jesus Christ did not die and rise for you so that you would stress about whether you're being spiritual enough. So take a nap. Go for a walk in the woods. Play with your kids. Eat some chocolate. Watch a good movie. Christian, you are free" (p. 111). You have no idea how freeing it was for me to read this. This is one of those quotes that I will write on an index card and carry around in my purse (along with my Scripture memorization of course, ha ha). Confession: I have been very guilty of beating myself up so far in 2013. I'm doing a new thing with studying my Bible which has left less time for reading theology. I have read fewer books to this point in the year than any other year in recent history and so often feel bad about it. I have read more fiction so far this year though because when I do sit down to 'relax' I don't want to have my brain in high-functioning mode. This wonderful thought from the author gives me some permission to 'back off' of myself. Thank you Mr. Wilson.
Can I admit here that I'm a bit of a sanctification/justification junkie? Whenever I see either of those words, my heart beats a little faster. So when I got to the chapter in the book entitled 'Gospel-Driven Sanctification' I was super excited. And let me tell you, the chapter is more than a little 'marked up'. I will try to restrain myself here. This chapter takes the reader all over the Bible (Ephesians, Philippians, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 1 John,...) to make the point that "we cannot continue to treat the gospel as if it is the power of god for a conversion experience but not for a total life transformation" (p. 132). I'm just going to share some of my favourite snippets:
Philippians 2:12-13 and Ephesians 2:10 don't leave our work out of the equation. We do participate in our own sanctification. But the Scriptures make it clear that our good works are the results of God's good work. If we ground our hopes for sanctification in our own obedience, we will rush headlong into despair; because we are constantly falling back into sin, unable to obey perfectly, and we are constantly discovering new areas of our heart that need cleaning. We break covenant daily. But the covenant holds because God is faithful. Let us fear him and obey him, and let us do so grounded in the wonderful truth that he will persevere his saints. This makes gospel centrality so important. The longer we take our eyes off the gospel, the more we will think our sanctification is powered by our own good efforts, and that is just a short skip and a jump to self-righteousness (p. 134).
If it's sanctification you want, if it's obedience you're after, if it's growth in Christ you seek, return again and again to Christ. We do well to pursue righteousness, but we must pursue it in the righteousness of Christ (p. 135).
When the Spirit comes to dwell in us, he beings cleaning house. By participating in this work of cleaning, we acknowledge our relinquishment of ownership of our own lives and our trust in God's sovereignty expressed through the love of Christ (p. 141).
Near the end of the book are two great chapters on 'Depression' and 'Gospel Confidence'. Then Wilson exhorts us to have Gospel-Wakened Churches that "embrace the loss of [their] reputation for the gain of God's glory" (p. 198). Amen!
In the conclusion, Wilson ends with the words of 'The Awakened Sinner', a prayer. Here is the last bit of it:
Let me not delay to come to thee;
Break the fatal enchantment that binds my evil affections,
and bring me to a happy mind that rests in thee,
for thou hast made me and canst not forget me.
Let thy Spirit teach me the vital lessons of Christ,
for I am slow to learn;
And hear thou my broken cries.
I pray that you will add this book to your reading list in the near future. It's one I will, with no reservations, pass on to others and I would love to study it in more depth at some point.
Best of Ligonier 2012 - This is the ministry that publishes Tabletalk, the devotional magazine that I've been using for the last few years. They are strong "Reformers" and this best of the year list will give a great perspective on some of their theology.
Evangelism and Motherhood - For many of us, other moms are who we spend the majority of our days with. This is a wonderful article on how one mother made her community of moms her mission field.
He who answers a matter before he hears it - This blog post brought me to tears as I realized that there are so many times when I fail to listen to what my children have to say because I think I've heard it so many times before. An absolutely essential reminder for us all!!
Doubt-Killing Promises - A beautifully written piece by Justin Taylor with a look in The Pilgrim's Progress for some important lessons.
Putting Your Spouse First Actually Puts Your Kids First - "Counselors, therapists, pastors, study after study, but most importantly, your own experience will tell you that kids who grow up in families where Mom and Dad's relationship is strong do much better than when Mom and Dad focus all of the attention on the kids, and forget about each other. Kids long for constants; when they know Mom and Dad's relationship is solid, kids flourish."
How to Avoid Being "that guy" in Class - This just made me laugh out loud. The flow chart is priceless and should be posted in every class room (especially seminary ones).
Prepare for Gay Marriage - At first I thought this point of view might be a bit extreme (as it is from an American perspective) but it's definitely worth considering how things might go.
So because I'm writing about some of these books a long while after reading them, when I picked up Forever: Why You Can't Live Without It by Paul David Tripp, I had very little recollection about the book. As I meandered back through it, searching for highlights that I could share here I was really surprised by how many great snippets I found. I don't know why the book didn't impact me greatly at the time that I read it but I hope going through it this second time will really cement it in my heart and mind. I would definitely recommend it to others as a wonderful 'perspective setter' and a fresh way to honour God in the every day happenings of our lives.
The guiding premise of the book is "whether we live with eternity in view or not, there is one things we need to understand: God always responds to us with eternity in view" (p. 34). So with this view in mind, and as it develops in us, we can better see how our living in this world (which is not our final destination) and disappointments and difficulties we encounter better prepare us for the next. Tripp discusses how not one person can escape the reality of death on this earth, both physical and spiritual:
What do spiritually dead people do? They put themselves in the middle of their universe and look to things to give them what only God can give. They live for physical pleasure, not spiritual communion. They become obsessed with their own little kingdoms instead of with God's. They deny their dependency. They act as if they are autonomous and self-sufficient. They write their own laws and live to fulfill their own dreams. They live with the pleasures of this present, physical world as their highest hope and dream. Incessant pleasure researchers and accountants, they again and again ask, "Where are the best pleasures to be found?" and "Who around me has more pleasure than I do?" (p. 45)
We make life about us and not God as the centre. But this is not the way it should be. "This is not the way the world was created, and this is not who we were designed to be. We were designed to live with both King and kingdom consciousness, because we were designed to live for God" (p. 49). God wants the fact that the earthly things we run after never satisfy us to point us to Him as the only true satisfaction.
God's grace frees us to live with eternity in view and as we immerse ourselves in the Word and surround ourselves with people who encourage us to take God at his word (p. 64), we will see God "doing the one things we don't have the ability to do ourselves: kill death" (p. 68).
We can live with mystery and we can live in the middle of things we cannot control, because the gift of eternal life guarantees that we will be protected by God's power until forever is our final home...The grace of eternal life frees me from carrying the burden of having to convince myself and others that I am righteous. Eternal life means I have been forgiven, and since I have, God will never turn his back on me and walk away. I no longer have to live in guilt and shame. I no longer have to fear being known. I don't have to deny my weaknesses and failures. The gift of forever guarantees that I have been and will be forgiven and that everything that is broken inside of me will be completely repaired (p. 73)
As we begin to place all our hope in God, and make the connection with the eternity He has in mind with us, our weak places and wounds will come into focus but "the brokenness and longing that intersect in our hearts are meant not to drive us to cynicism and despair, but to God" (p. 100). We will realize that the temporary things of this world and the people in it cannot be our hope and we can't burden others with being our hope. "God has made you hope rich, so stop living as if you are hope poor" (p. 104).
When we approach our lives from the perspective of forever, the suffering and heartache that often come are not as difficult as they would be without this view. "Knowing that Christ lives in us makes it possible for us to get up in the morning when circumstances are hard and the relationships around us are messy. We don't have to fear what things we'll have to deal with that are just around the corner. Our rest is not to be found in our understanding of everything in our lives or the sense that we have what it takes to face our trials. Christ is our rest, hope, courage, and motivation. Because of his amazing grace and his presence now living inside us, we are never alone, never left to live inside the boundaries of our own resources" (p. 119). This helps us greatly when we are approaching personal relationships and unrealistic expectations we have placed on people around us. "When we are looking at a problem from the perspective of the vastness of eternity, we are able to keep it in perspective and to resist turning a garden-variety human weakness into a heinous crime" (p. 129). I can tell you with all honesty that I need to put that on my fridge on a bright pink post-it and commit it to memory! When we allow ourselves to be defined by our relationships with fellow sinful human beings, trouble is brewing. "No human being is capable of holding and protecting anyone else's happiness. No human being can give someone else inner rest. Why? Because every person is broken by sin and in need of the transformation of grace. When we look to someone else to be our place of spiritual wholeness, we place a burden on them that they simply will not be able to bear" (p. 130).
I so appreciated his chapter on forever and parenting. He stresses that children need to be rescued from themselves again and again and how we do that is to introduce them to the thing that is vastly bigger than themselves. "You job is to help them to understand who they are and who God is and what life all about, so that in the various situations and relationships of their lives they will live in a way that is consistent with God's plot" (p. 143). Our children need to be told consistently and constantly that the desire of their hearts can only be fulfilled by God. So their relationship with God should be of utmost importance.
Disobedience is not first about the breaking of some abstract rule; it is about breaking relationship with God. When your children ignore God, they find it easy to disobey his commands. Consequences have to do with the authority of God and the ultimate question of whether your kids have lived in submission to his will in the particular relationships and situations that make up their lives. Imparting to your children a harvest mentality is a very important piece of what it means to function as God's agent in their lives. So we need to talk to our children repeatedly about the loving heavenly Father who graces us with his wisdom and sets up for us boundaries of protection, which don't rob us of life, but offer us life as it was designed to be enjoyed (p. 148).
We must remember as we forge ahead in our lives that our plans and our perspective are, most often, not in complete alignment with God's will and His plans. But our God is so gracious that there will be times when He will even wait for us to come on board. "So he leads us into situations that take us way beyond the limits of our own strength and wisdom. He uses difficulty to expose our weaknesses of character, wisdom, desire, thought, word, and action. And he does all of this so that we will admit our need, cry out for his help, and receive his transforming grace" (p. 177).
In all this though, God wants us to experience the real joy He has for us. It is a vertical joy and is rooted in us believing that the story He tells and the promises He makes are real. "When we live with forever in view and when we look at life from the vantage point of the whole story, we will experience a joy that is so resilient, so sturdy, that it does not evaporate in the face of hardship" (p. 199). "True joy is not just a feeling; it is a lifestyle...this side of forever, we have to fight for our joy. Yes, it is God's gift to us, but we have to learn what it means to live in light of the gift we have been given" (p. 200).
I would encourage you to read this book and find some treasures in it that will help you gain a 'forever focus'. Remember where you are made for long-term, because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world (John 15:19).
I was drawn to this book for a few different reasons: firstly, the forward is by D.A. Carson and I respect his works so much (plus, he's Canadian which gives him a little extra dose of cool); secondly, it has a lot of names on the cover of men who's books I wanted to read or who I had heard a lot about. The subtitle of the book is 'The Old Faith for a New Day'. It's twenty-, thirty- and forty-something guys who are 'coming up' in the Reformed circle of theology. I went into it thinking that if they could write in a way that wasn't overwhelming to those who don't spend all day with their nose in a tome from some long-dead evangelical, it would be a wonderful book to pass on to people who are inquiring about the Reformed belief system. What I found was so much more. This is a book that I would give to anyone who claims faith in Christ! The purpose of the book, according to the forward is "to introduce young Christians, new Christians, and underdisciplined Christians to the most important article of our faith and what it looks like to live out this faith in real life" (p. 16). They also desire "to reassert the theological nature of evangelicalism" (p. 17). I was on board from the very start.
There are 18 chapters, each written by a different gentleman. The beauty of this is if you aren't loving the style of one writer, you just have to hang in there until the next chapter and it all changes. I am not going to offer up copious quotes from each section but will give you some of what were highlights for me.
In Part 1, Evangelical History, Kevin deYoung looks at 'The Secret to Reaching the Next Generation'. The main thrust of his point is "the one indispensable requirement for producing godly, mature Christians is godly, mature Christians" (p. 27) and we get this by challenging people with the truth and encouraging them to go deeper into their faith all the time. Collin Hansen then gives an interesting history of evangelicalism in Chapter 2.
Part 2 is focused on Evangelical Theology. This was the part to which I was really looking forward. Jonathan Leeman spends his chapter showing how God is not like us. "We know that God knows more than we do, and that he's morally superior - 'better'. But we still assume that God, broadly speaking, shares our sense of justice and morality, our views on love and sex, our politics, our ideas of an evening well spent and a life worth living. He's basically like us...like me. It is this assumption that's at the heart of what the Bible calls our sin...When we belong to Christ, less and less do we believe that God is like us, and more and more do we become like God (2 Cor. 3:18; 1 John 3:2)" (p. 48,57). Andy Naselli (a man who grew up in a Mormon home) follows with a wonderful chapter on Scripture. His explanation of Biblical inspiration on pages 59-60 is, for certain, the best I've ever come across as a way to explain it to almost anyone. Chapter 5 is by Greg Gilbert and deals with the Gospel. I appreciated his perspective, "The death of Jesus is - and must be - the heart of the gospel because the good news is precisely that Jesus saves sinners from their sin" (p. 73). He fleshes this out by saying,
We've forgotten, and even in some cases deliberately disregarded, what sin is and how profound is its offense to God. The Bible tells us plainly that 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' (Rom. 3:23), and that at its root, sin is rebellion against God the Creator-King. He made us, Genesis tells us, and therefore he has the right to tell us how to live. When we sin against him, breaking his law, worshipping idols, searching for satisfaction in created things rather than in him, we reject his kingship over us and thereby make ourselves liable to his good and righteous judgment (p. 74).
Ben Peays discusses the requirement of being born again and why it matters so much. Jay Harvey then delves into justification in his chapter. He fleshes out a key concept regarding justification by faith alone,
The strong language about our righteousness before God is intended to counter one of our strongest sinful tendencies: pride. We constantly want to justify ourselves before God, to be good enough without Christ. But God does not want us to trust in our goodness. He does not want us to make up for our past sins through present obedience. He does not want us to think that we are good enough to go to heaven by comparing ourselves to the Hitlers and Stalins of the world. Comparisons are useless when it comes to establishing righteousness before God. God crucified his one and only Son for our justification, and he wants us to trust in him alone. When it comes to being justified, faith plus anything else is quicksand. The only ground for right standing before God is Christ Jesus grabbed ahold of by faith (p. 101)
This is logically followed by a chapter on sanctification written by Owen Strachan. It's convicting in it's picture of what sanctification looks like when truly lived. "We need to saturate our minds and hearts with the riches of biblical theology, such that we think and act from a profoundly scriptural base. We need to be in the Word constantly. We need also to pray hard and regularly, asking God to give us wisdom for our daily lives and power to kill our nagging sins" (p. 115). Russell Moore then discusses the Kingdom and how "the kingdom of God is life, not an afterlife" (p. 125). Tim Challies (another cool Canadian) finishes up the second part of the book with a look at Jesus Christ and how He is our only way and our only hope. Focusing heavily on Romans, he says "All men reject [the] revelation of God...Anyone who wishes to be saved without placing his faith in Christ ought to have lived a sinless life...There is only one kind of man - the man trapped in the total depravity of his sinful nature, inherited from his father Adam. And since there is only one kind of man, there is only one kind of salvation - faith through the second Adam, Jesus Christ" (p. 135).
Part 3 examines various ways of Evangelical Practice. Ted Kluck shows how we can be evangelicals in our vocation, no matter what that is. We just need to be doing something, doing it with humility and doing it to the best of our ability. Darrin Patrick discusses the Christian's role in social justice and encourages us to make sure that the Word and the Gospel are what inform us as we go about this task. In a chapter on homosexuality, Eric Redmond and Kevin deYoung look at what the Bible says about this 'lifestyle' that is becoming ever more prevalent in our society. "Heterosexual monogamy is God's normative design for marriage. The Bible refuses to comment whatever deviates from this pattern - be it adultery, bestiality, polygamy, fornication, or homosexual behavior" (p. 169). The authors ask us to be aware that grace is at stake in this debate and "at our best, we who oppose homosexual behavior do so motivated by love - love for the hurting, the struggling, the ostracized, and the confused" (p. 177). I really appreciated how they handled this topic. Justin Taylor tackles the topic of abortion (which is such a hot topic in these early days of 2013 with the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade). He talks about common objections to the pro-life stance and offers responses. He believes that God "does not give us the option of sitting this one out. May God give us the grace not to grow weary in doing good (Gal. 6:9; 2 Thess. 3:13)" (p 190). Denny Burk offers his thoughts on gender confusion and has the Biblical descriptions of marriage and sex as the foundation of his points. Thabiti Anyabwile wrote a great chapter on the local church, stating "the local church and your active membership in it are essential to your spiritual well-being and that of the entire congregation. Two things prosper when we make the local church central to our understanding of the Christian life: our individual souls and the souls of other Christians in the congregation" (p. 202). He writes about where the church came from, what our attitude toward it should be and why we need it. Tulllian Tchividjian (who just happens to be Billy Graham's grandson) offered his learnedness regarding worship. "All this means we ought to come to worship expecting first and foremost to see God. We come to encounter his glory, to be awestruck by his majesty" (p. 217). At the very end of his chapter, there was a portion that I highlighted and all I wrote in the margin was 'Beautiful!'
I look forward to corporate worship more than any other time of the week because when I am worshipping together with other sinner-saints, my anticipation for the Great Gathering on the last day intensifies. What we do together in worship is nothing less than a glorious rehearsal of what we will experience when the "ultimate assembly" is fully and finally brought together by Christ. Our weekly worship is a foretaste of that day when our feasting will be permanent and our fasting will be over - when we will finally be able to "enjoy what is most enjoyable with unbound energy and passion forever" (quote from John Piper) (p. 224)
And that is why we need to go to church every Sunday!! David Mathis explains missions in the final chapter and why we should all be part of it. "It doesn't matter how much a church may say that it is being missional; it is not fully missional in the biblical sense if it is not both pursuing mission at home (traditionally called evangelism) among native reached people and being an engaged sender in support of missionaries to the unreached" (p. 234).
Sorry, I know this went on a bit longer than I have stated I want to go but I didn't want to leave out the effort of any of these men. Get this book and read it!! Then pass it on to others, either as an introduction for newer believers or a refresher on their faith for the those who are mature in their walk with God. This is one of those books that will probably always stay on the most accessible book shelf so when someone asks me about any of the topics I will have some good, reliable support from some trusted men readily at hand.
Here are some articles on parenting that I hope will inspire you.
Christian Parenting Reminders - "Some of my greatest joys in life stem from being a parent to two delightful children. However, some of my greatest struggles in life also stem from being a parent to these same two children"
Raising Kids the World Will Hate - "I realized that if God answers my prayer for my son to be a follower of Christ, people will hate him. People will absolutely, unquestionably be repulsed by my son"
How to be the Parent you Want to Be - "40 things every child must know before they leave home"
And here are some random articles that I loved.
Ashamed of the Gospel - "There was something that I was still holding back. Something that I felt would spoil this infant acquaintanceship. Numerous perfect opportunities for bringing it up came and went, but I ignored them all. I deliberately pushed it to the back of my mind and conveniently omitted it from the conversation. The truth of the matter is, I was ashamed of the Gospel"
30 Things You Might Not Know about C.S. Lewis - some of these I knew from reading a biography on him a few years back but some were new to me. Regardless, "Jack" was a fascinating man and I love to learn more about him.
Enough - this is some poetry written by a friend of mine. She is an inspiring woman who seeks after God's heart with such deep passion I am constantly amazed at what He is doing in her heart and life.
In the first half of 2012, I was doing the Beth Moore study on James. When we came to James 3:1, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness", and read what Beth wrote about this verse I became deeply convicted that it was time for me to step out in faith and offer to help with or apprentice in the context of a women's Bible study. This led to me investigating Christian leadership books and as I worked my way through many 'Top 10/15/20' lists, this book by Dr. Lynn Anderson showed up repeatedly. So I ordered it and I am so thankful.
Dr. Anderson believes that the same kind of leadership employed in the first century church, when times were morally and politically chaotic like our times, is still the best way to lead. The focus of that leadership is shepherding. "This is the essence of spiritual leadership: sheep following a shepherd because they know and trust him. This kind of trust and allegiance can be gained only one way - by a shepherd touching his sheep, carrying them, handling them, tending them, feeding them - to the extent that he smells like them" (p. 17). I really enjoyed learning about the relationship that shepherds to real sheep need to forge in order to run their flock efficiently and effectively. Once I understood that, I could see how it would be so valuable to adopt the same methods when leading a flock of believers in Christ. These shepherds put their lives on the line for their sheep if need be!! The basis of the healthy relationship between shepherd and sheep is trust. Trust requires time and proximity. "Shepherding sheep requires a long-term, costly commitment of self, time, and energy and the building of open, authentic relationships...[and] the intentionality of Christ, his relational approach, his commitment - these we can emulate" (p. 24). Dr. Anderson discusses many different leadership models and points out some of the problems with them.
There is a really inspiring section in the book about mentors and how the author believes "mentors pull up alongside human beings and model behaviour, values, and faith through the shared life" (p. 49). He says that we all long for mentors and it is a Scriptural concept (1 Peter 5:3, Acts 20:35). This portion of the book has me praying regularly for a mentor.
The third section of the book was on equipping the people in the church and responsibility that falls on the leaders to do that well.
It does not mean simply dumping jobs onto available bodies...leaders must (1) delegate meaningful tasks to others, who (2) have spiritual gifts and passions suited to those tasks, then (3) equip them with skills to do those ministry tasks...they can and will become and remain excited if they are involved in the congregation's ministry dream and given opportunities to exercise their own unique giftedness - and to be difference makers (p. 85)
Part of equipping people also involves the leaders sharing their life experiences and living a life of integrity. This will encourage the people who are serving in your church.
The latter half of the book is all about elders and authority. Although I will never be an elder in my church and will never have authority over people, it was very informative and encouraging to see that there is a clear standard set out in the Bible for our leadership. Looking at a number of Greek words that are used for various leadership roles in passages such as Acts 20 and 1 Peter 5, Dr. Anderson discusses what our elders should be like. "Elders are called to raise the bar in the church. They set the example and lift the standard of what it means to be a Christian [quoting Max Lucado]" (p. 134). Our elders should be men of experience. They should have life experience. In other words, they should be past mid-life. They should have experience with Jesus and experience with the devil - they must have walked with the Lord for a long while and wrestled with temptation and won. Much experience with the Word is absolutely necessary. "An elder cannot know with confidence what is 'sound' if he relies too heavily on a hired expert for his answers. He must know the Word himself - and know it thoroughly enough to confidently and clearly identify the difference between truth and error" (p. 143). He must have experience with successful family relationships (his wife and children if he has them) and he must love the people.
The best shepherd is approachable: warm and sensitive, not conceited, 'not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome' (Titus 1:10-11). God's church needs leaders who care enough to know and feel what is going on in the life of this person or that, and who will listen, not with blank noncomprehending stares that seem oblivious to our feelings, but who lean in with attentiveness and tears - men who love (p. 151)
Sorry, I am going on and on here but I was so inspired by Dr. Anderson's vision of examining the men in our churches and "intentionally maturing" (p. 177) men for eldership. I will finish looking at the book with this challenge
Think carefully about this, my friends. We may be robbing God's people of the very spiritual guidance so desperately needed in our times, when we actually replace God's shepherd model with our own corporate model. My dear brothers and sisters, please ponder this carefully: an ecclesiastical system that runs better when it sacrifices its biblical leadership function (shepherding, mentoring, equipping) to protect a nonbiblical function (efficient management and administration) cannot be of God! Repeat: cannot be of God! (p. 176)
So please, if you know anyone who is in a leadership position or hopes to be in a leadership position in their church in the future, have them read this wonderful book. It's not a tough read and has some great stories interspersed among the theology. I don't think that anyone could read it and not want to be a better shepherd, whether they are leading a group of children, a Bible study for women or an entire congregation.
