Joy in the Struggling

God, it’s Sunday morning again, and I confess that I’m tired, and would love nothing more than crawling back into bed. So it’s at times like this that I thank you for the people you lay on me, that weigh on me, so heavily.

In a few hours, I’ll see those people. And God, my tendency is to start rattling them off, and wondering who will come and who won’t; it’s to count and measure and judge by appearance and things. Lord, forgive the shallowness that plagues me. Allow me today — and forever, but let’s just take today — to catch a glimpse of the joy you feel over just one sinner coming to you. Give me eyes to see the rejoicing you feel for just one of your children that draws closer to you through meeting with you today. God, remove the scaly, numerical, counting-based, shallow-minded, everything-is-about-headcount covering over my eyes that robs my joy.

Lord, I beg you to meet with us this morning. Today’s lesson is simple, but so important. I ask not that you’d make me an effective teacher, but that you would effectively teach. If that means we need the technical hijinks of last week to make a point, bring it on. But if you are best seen today by things going well — by the wireless working and the slides coming off as they should and the handouts being what they were intended to be — then I pray that all will go smoothly.

Most of all, Lord, tear down the curtain between your children in the chairs and your children at the head of the class. For the newest or most un-confident Christian, display the logical and rational way your Bible is laid out. Make it clear how to read Scripture, how to understand the context of a verse, and how a free online Bible program can reveal the life bound up in your word.

Lord, please get your glory today. I know that’s a silly prayer, so maybe it’s better said like this: Lord, please allow us to work toward your glory; please allow us to joy in you; please don’t look upon us today, and determine that you’ll have to work in spite of us once again. We recognize that we have nothing to offer, but we ask your Holy Spirit to awaken in us a desire to worship; a desire to see you rightly; a desire to pour our fleshly desires out and fill ourselves with your Spirit.

God, thank you for being gracious enough to allow us to meet with you. Bring those who need to hear you into our class today. Allow us to serve you well, and to display the manifold wisdom of Jesus.

It’s for your glorious name we pray, Jesus,

Amen

"Philosophical Fragments" by Johannes Climaces, ed. Soren Kierkegaard

My review:

I was warned this would be a really tough book. I had to read several chapters twice before I could even get the sense of them, and one particular chapter took me a good hour to even catch a clue on. But, the important thing is this: there’s a payoff.

I found Climacus really enjoyable, in the same way that C.S. Lewis is in “Mere Christianity” and Tim Keller is in “The Reason for God.” He essentially reasons toward an active God who injects himself into humanity via an incarnation (which is, of course, only matched in Christianity). More importantly, Climacus forces a willing reader to consider their own concerns, and perhaps most of all, their own role in salvation.

Although I keep hearing that Kierkegaard was a staunch Arminian, this book reads almost like a treatise on irresistable grace, as Climacus again and again argues for the minuscule role of man in salvation. This book will push you, and taunt you at times. But it’s rewarding, and if not classic, certainly valuable reading.

I intend to publish my chapter notes (I read and journal incessently) as soon as I have time to type them up. I’ll also be writing up Plantinga and Evans, both of which relate to Kierkegaard, in the coming weeks.

Every human being is too heavy for me, and therefore I plead, per deos obsecro [O swear by the gods]: Let no one invite me, for I do not dance.

This is a rough start into what I keep hearing is a hard-to-read book. This seems silly — this preface. Kierkegaard goes to such lengths to say he’s not important. In my journal, I actually wrote, “Such import on not being important.” Is this a “Don’t blame me!” approach? Why does Kierkegaard spend so much time saying he has no opinion?

In fact, if Kierkegaard really has such little respect or esteem for his own opinion — or rather his “non-opinion” (p. 7) — then why does he write his work? More importantly, why write an introduction putting forth that he has no opinion?

I wonder if Kierkegaard (or Climacus, if you prefer) is essentially saying, “Hey, take it or leave it.”

I admit to putting down the book to take a breath and write my notes in my journal, and thinking, “Wow. I’m out of my league.” Having read a good bit further now, I can safely say that while Kierkegaard is no walk in the park, this Preface is just as wordy but far less decipherable to me than the main text. I suspect there’s more to this Preface, and once I’ve finished the book, I intend to come back and read this again, to try and get a handle on at least part of what I’ve missed.

And with that, into the body of Philosophical Fragments.

"Sheet Music" by Dr. Kevin Leman

My review:

This is basically a slightly more intense version of most Christian books on sexuality: it’s largely about technique and detail and the prohibitions (and lack thereof) with regard to sex in Scripture. There’s nothing wrong with the book; it’s just absent the central truth that all the technique and lustful passion in world can’t make up for a Christ-less marriage. And honestly, I can’t find anywhere that Scripture says the primary goal is great sex. I think I read somewhere that the goal is pressing into Jesus.

All that aside, if you come to this book aware of the centrality of Jesus, I can then recommend this heartily. It dispels plenty of myths, and is unashamedly graphic. That’s not to be read as “lewd;” it’s to be read as “includes detail that most couples are looking for.” So if this is a tool within a marriage relationship, and understood as completely useless apart from Jesus, then there’s a good bit of information in this book. And in that context, I’d recommend it.

"The 360-degree leader" by John Maxwell

My review:

I have such a conflicted, mixed opinion about this book. On the one hand, the concept - leading not only down, but also across and up in your organization - is powerful. The writing is clean, the chapters are short, and there’s nothing appalling or upsetting in the book. However, I found the book very tedious to read, and I stretched a typical two- or three-day read into nearly a month.

I do think this would be a great book for a brand-new manager, or for someone who has never managed before. For that category and career-stage, I believe you’d get some strong benefit from this book. However, I’m not sure how well a new manager will be able to digest leading across and up, as most new managers are just trying to survive.

For anyone with management experience, it seems hard to imagine that these lessons are revolutionary. If they are, you may be in danger of losing your management role; so put these principles in place fast! Ultimately, I just don’t know who to recommend this to.

For the new manager? No. They’re in over their head, and need time to learn the basics. This isn’t basic; this is beyond basic.

For the experienced manager? No. They’ve already intuited most of this. They’d be frustrated and bored, as was I.

For the manager not doing well? I’m not sure synthesizing all this material is worthwhile; the manager not doing well is best focused on execution for a season.

For the manager doing really well? No. They’re already doing these things, in some fashion, or they wouldn’t be doing well.

So I’m just not sure. Good content, good structure, good writing, good illustrations… and I can’t find that I’d urge anyone to read this.

"My Search for Charismatic Reality" by Neil Babcox

My review:

I found this to be a very readable account of one man’s experience with the Charismatic gifts, and that made this an interesting and valuable read. However, as a work of scholarship, I found it to be really poor and lacking. To be clear, I couldn’t stand up and teach on my position (cessationism versus continuationism) as I’m still wrestling through these issues; so I have no particular position that I wanted supported.

The basic story is this: the author gets involved with the charismatic gifts, first speaking in tongues and then prophesying. There’s a pretty clear treatment in summary of the basic positions against that, and the author’s journey to deal with each of those. He points out rightly that many of these arguments are extra-Biblical. Additionally, he explains (also well) that the most common argument against gifts - that the canon is now closed - is an exegetical mess, and has very little credibility.

But the remainder of the book is basically the author’s experience of seeing his own warping of the gifts. My problem is just that: it’s largely the author’s experience. In other words, I think the author does a great job of recognizing that, in his own life, he was forcing up these gifts rather than worshiping rightly. But by extension, he (largely through logic) supposes that everyone has the same issue: they’re operating out of will rather than the Spirit of God.

So this book is an interesting mini-memoir, but not great for real study. It’s a poor argument for cessationism, but again, it’s not a banner to wave for continuationism either. His working definition of prophecy seems to be quite confusing (that it’s additional canonical-style revelation), and it muddles his argument.

What this is, though, is a wonderful story of a preacher’s integrity in working through Scripture and honestly assessing himself. As a young guy who is wrestling with some doctrines of my own, it’s encouraging (and unpopular) to do the sort of self-analysis described here.

If you’re a voracious reader, you’ll eat this up in a day or two and this is worthwhile. If you’re carefully picking your books, or have limited time, don’t bother.

"Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper

My review:

It’s hard for me to not 5-star a John Piper book on principle; on the other hand, I wanted to give this 3 stars based on the other Piper books I’ve read. Let’s put it this way: if you’ve never read John Piper, you’ll be challenged to make your life count, and to make it count for more than just checking off a list of rules. If you’re a Piper fanatic, though — if you’ve feasted on “Desiring God” or “Future Grace” — then you may find this book lighter and a bit repetitive.

Piper’s premise is simple: there is a life we’re given, and an infinite ability we all possess to waste it away. How sad is it to see men and women retired, sitting around vacantly staring at nothing, their past and future as useless as their present? Piper urges us forward into joy, into a burden for missions, into a burden for the Gospel, and he does it in trademark style: decrying slavish obedience and insisting on worship and outlandish celebration of Jesus. The result? A passion for men and women to matter.

"The Prodigal God" by Tim Keller

My review:

I read a lot of books, and I’ve even read a lot of really good books. Timothy Keller and “The Prodigal Son,” though, are in a different class. Keller is often compared to C.S. Lewis, which is a mighty comparison; yet Keller is brilliant in “The Prodigal God.” More importantly, Keller makes Christ brilliant in his very original, unique examination of the familiar parable of Jesus, The Prodigal Son.

Keller begins by completely jarring us in examining the word “prodigal,” which means simply, “recklessly spendthrift.” Keller than argues (effectively) that it is God that is prodigal, not the son. God is reckless in His pursuit of us, and in paying any cost — in this case, His perfect Son — to recover us.

Keller continues to dig, revealing the subject of the parable (the elder brother, not the younger), and the contrast between the elder brother and Jesus, our effective elder brother who DID rescue us; who DID sacrifice for us. This book will change you, and it’s a mere 130 pages. Get it… today.