A La Carte (5/15)

There are lots of new Kindle deals today. Here are four books by J.I. Packer: Taking God Seriously ($5.99); A Passion for Faithfulness ($4.99); Growing in Christ ($3.99); Affirming the Apostle’s Creed ($2.99). You may also be interested in: James, a 12-week study by Greg Gilbert and part of Crossway’s new “Knowing the Bible” series ($2.99) or Signature in the Cell by Stephen Meyer ($2.99).

Kermit Gosnell's America - Dr. Mohler writes about what Kermit Gosnell’s trial really reveals about America. “While the trial was not an open debate about the morality of abortion, that issue is what every thoughtful person recognizes is at stake -- which is precisely why the pro-abortion movement had to insist, over and over again, that the morality of abortion is not the issue. Here is a clue: When you have to argue at every turn that the issue is not abortion, the issue is abortion.”

Arrows Out - “The mark of a true Christian is someone who has embraced, by faith, love's ultimate expression in Christ's death for us. By God's design, this love in us becomes God's love through us. That's just the way he's made it. Is it so hard to believe God would engineer it that way? The God who made water turn into ice and larvae turn into butterflies and winter turn into spring, can't he engineer his love to turn haters into lovers? Turn takers into givers?”

The Legacy of Keith Green - I really enjoyed this conversation between Trevin Wax and Matt Papa on the life and legacy of Keith Green.

Tragic Worship - Here is a thought-provoking article from Carl Trueman: “The problem with much Christian worship in the contemporary world, Catholic and Protestant alike, is not that it is too entertaining but that it is not entertaining enough.”

Online Safety - We are probably all getting a little weary of reading articles like this one, but the takeaway remains important and too-often overlooked: Little kids are going online and behaving like adults.

The fruit of the Spirit is not excitement or orthodoxy; it is character. —G.B. Duncan

New & Notable Books

I am in the unique and enjoyable position of receiving copies of most of the latest and greatest Christian books and I like to provide regular roundups of some of the best and brightest of the bunch. Of all the books I have received recently, here are the ones that appear most noteworthy.

Glimpses of GraceGlimpses of Grace by Gloria Furman. I count Gloria as a friend, having invited myself to take advantage of her (and her husband's) hospitality when I was in Dubai last year. I am really excited to see her first book in print. "Sometimes life feels a lot like a burden--day-in and day-out it's the same chores and tasks, challenges and discouragements, anxieties and responsibilities. Dust bunnies show up on the stairwell, social commitments clutter the calendar, and our families demand daily attention and care. At times, just catching our breath seems like an impossible feat. Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a working woman splitting time between the office and home, Gloria Furman--writer, pastor's wife, cross-cultural worker, and mom--encourages us to see the reality of God's grace in all of life, especially those areas that often appear to be boring and unimportant. Using personal examples and insightful stories, her richly theological reflections help us experience the gospel's extraordinary power to transform our ordinary lives." Aileen and I read this book in pre-publication and were glad to write an endorsement for it. (Learn more or buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books).

The Gospel For Real Life Series. Brad Hambrick is editor of the excellent Gospel For Real Life series of counseling booklets. The series has four recent additions: Sexual Abuse: Beauty for Ashes by Bob Kelleman, Burnout: Resting in God's Fairness by Brad Hambrick, Depression: The Sun Always Rises by Margaret Ashmore, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Recovering Hope by Jeremy Lelek. The low page-count necessarily limits the amount of help these booklets can provide, and they are in no way a replacement for more thorough works or formal Christian counseling, but they still have their place in guiding the person grappling with a difficult issue or the person grappling with such an issue alongside a friend or family member. I read Kelleman's booklet on sexual abuse before it went to print and was glad to write an endorsement for the back cover. It is a helpful and healing treatment of sexual abuse. (Learn more or buy it at Amazon).

James White QuranWhat Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur’an  by James White. I have always appreciated James White's dedication to research; when you read one of his books you know you are reading a fair treatment of the subject, even if it is one he critiques (as in his books on Roman Catholicism and Arminianism). In this new book he looks at the Qur'an and Islam. "What used to be an exotic religion of people halfway around the world is now the belief system of people living across the street. Through fair, contextual use of the Qur’an as the primary source text, apologist James R. White presents Islamic beliefs about Christ, salvation, the Trinity, the afterlife, and other important topics. White shows how the sacred text of Islam differs from the teachings of the Bible in order to help Christians engage in open, honest discussions with Muslims." (Learn more or buy it at Amazon).

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The Kind of Preaching God Blesses

The Kind of Preaching God BlessesThere are some books on preaching that are meant for preachers. These are books that teach the nuts and bolts of preaching, that are full of practical tips and illustration. There is a place for such works. There are other books on preaching that are meant for all Christians. These are books that describe the power and priority of preaching in the Christian church and in the Christian life. Steven Lawson's The Kind of Preaching God Blesses falls squarely in the second category. This is a book for all of us whether we preach weekly, preach occasionally or never preach at all.

The book has an interesting story behind it. In May of 2011, Lawson was to speak at the annual Pastors' Conference at Moody Bible Institute. He decided to do an exposition of 1 Corinthians 2:1-9 and titled it "The Kind of Preaching God Blesses." That message resounded with the men who attended the conference and Lawson himself experienced an unusually tangible sense of the Lord's assistance and pleasure in preaching it. He carried that message with him to Russia, to California and Orlando, and when he preached it, the Lord stirred his people. After all, every Christian knows, or ought to know, that "as the pulpit goes, so goes the church. Never has this been more true than it is in this present hour. The fact remains, no church can rise any higher than its pulpit. The spiritual life of any congregation and its growth in grace will never exceed the high-water mark set by its pulpit." That message is at the very heart of this book.

In classic Lawson fashion, he writes with a clear and alliterated structure. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 2:1-9 he looks to the poverty of modern teaching, the prohibition of worldly preaching, the preeminence of Christ in preaching, the power of the Spirit in preaching, the predestination of the Father in preaching, and the parade of faithful preachers. He writes not only to pastors, but to all Christians, to those who preach and to those who listen to preaching.

The week-to-week carrying out of the preaching ministry is the responsibility of the pastor. He is the one who must dedicate himself to studying and understanding and explaining the Word of God. Lawson is right that "as the pulpit goes, so goes the church." A pastor must understand what preaching is and why it matters and how to do it to the best of his ability. Lawson has penned a book that will challenge the pastor anew to dedicate himself to this most urgent of callings.

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A La Carte (5/14)

The Bible Miniseries - Andy Naselli offers “3 Reasons I Don't Enthusiastically Recommend the History Channel's ‘The Bible: The Epic Miniseries’.” He brings some good reflections on both the strengths and weaknesses of the series.

Americans and Germans Fought Together - “Days after Hitler's suicide a group of American soldiers, French prisoners, and, yes, German soldiers defended an Austrian castle against an SS division--the only time Germans and Allies fought together in World War II. Andrew Roberts on a story so wild that it has to be made into a movie.”

Long-Lost Sisters - Here’s the feel-good story du jour. You can click through to the USA Today video if you prefer.

The (Im)perfect Marriage - “Depending on how well we do in our own eyes, perfectionism can play out in a variety of negative responses: feelings of worthlessness, inordinate preoccupation with the opinions of other people, paralyzing fear, impatience with others, and a sense of superiority. While I've recognized my perfectionist tendencies for some time now and while I am confident that God is changing me, the reality is that I tend to carry that disposition into my relationships, not least of which is my marriage.”

The Plastic Fruit of Online Living - Lindsey Carlson writes about online living and some of the temptation it brings.

Heaven Is Hot, Hell Is Cold - Macleans magazine, Canada’s answer to Time, had a recent cover story about the phenomenon of all the “I went to heaven” books. The author ends up sharing some interesting reflections.

I believe every Christian man has a choice between being humble and being humbled. —C.H. Spurgeon

Best Commentaries on 1 Corinthians

Series Introduction: I live in a small house. I work in a small office in a small church. For those reasons and others I will never have a huge library. When I add a book I almost always remove a book, a practice that allows me to focus on quality over quantity. Over the past couple of years I have focused on building a collection of commentaries that will include only the best volumes on each book of the Bible. I know when I'm in way over my head, so before I began I collected every good resource I could find that rated and reviewed commentaries. I studied them and then began my collection on the basis of what the experts told me. Since I did all of that work, and since I continue to keep up with the project, I thought it might be helpful to share the recommendations.

My focus is on newer commentaries (at least in part because most of the classics are now freely or cheaply available) and I am offering approximately 5 recommendations for each book of the Bible, alternating between the Old Testament and the New. Today I have turned to the experts to find what they say about 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians

ThiseltonAnthony Thiselton - The First Epistle to the Corinthians (New International Greek Testament Commentary). The clear consensus for the top commentary on 1 Corinthians is Anthony Thiselton’s volume in the NIGTC. This is a series for academics, so it will prove difficult for the casual reader. Carson says it is “well written, accessible (for readers of this sort of series!), and penetrating” and praises it for both detailed exegesis and for tracing lines of interpretation from the Church Fathers to the present. (Amazon, Westminster Books)

Gordon Fee - The First Epistle to the Corinthians (The New International Commentary on the New Testament). Carson says that the best general commentary is a toss-up between Fee and Garland. Most experts appear to agree and have some difficulty with selecting one over the other. Both Carson and Derek Thomas regard this as a helpful volume while pointing out some weaknesses, and especially Fee’s treatment of 1 Corinthians 14:33b-35. His argument for the continuation of all gifts is said to be helpful and well-formed, whether or not that is your position. (Amazon, Westminster Books)

GarlandDavid Garland - 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament). Garland’s is widely praised and apparently represents a very competent handling of the text. It is relatively recent (2003) which gives it an advantage in interacting with more recent scholarship. Thiselton says, “It offers reliable and constructive exegesis based on a wide interaction with scholarly literature. It retains an eye to theology and to pastoral application, with clear comments and often apt turns of phrase.” (Amazon, Westminster Books)

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Prayerlessness Is Selfishness

I have said it often and said it recently, that prayer has always been a struggle for me. It's not that I don't pray--I do!--but that I find it a battle to put my theology into action day-by-day and to live out my deepest convictions about prayer by actually praying. I experience little of the joy and sense of fulfillment that so many of the great pray-ers speak of. As often as not, I have to rely on the objective facts of what I believe about prayer more than any subjective feeling or sense of satisfaction.

Last week I received a jolt when I read H.B. Charles Jr.'s It Happens After Prayer. If I can read a whole book and hang on to one big application or one big challenge, I consider it a book that has been well worth the time I've invested in it. There were several helpful takeaways from Charles' book, but the one I expect to stick with me is this: "The things you pray about are the things you trust God to handle. The things you neglect to pray about are the things you trust you can handle on your own." On one level it's an obvious insight, but then again, the best insights usually are. I should have known it, and, in fact, I think I did know it. But I needed it clearly spelled out to me at this time in my life.

As I prayed last week, and as I gave attention to preparing a sermon, I was struck by a related thought: Prayerlessness is selfishness. I had been spending time praying as per Mike McKinley's oh-so-helpful guidelines and found myself praying that I would grow in love for those who would hear the sermon, that I would have wisdom to apply the text to their lives, that I would see how the passage confronts the unbelief of those who would hear it, and so on. And it struck me that for me not to pray, and not to pray fervently, during the process of sermon preparation would be the height of selfishness. I would be trusting that I could handle crafting the sermon and coming up with just the right applications all on my own. I would be effectively denying the Lord the opportunity to do his work through this sermon. "You go do something else; I've got this one!"

The text itself gave me an illustration. I was preaching the first chapter of Jonah and there we see Jonah aboard a ship in the middle of a storm so powerful that it threatens to destroy the boat and all aboard it. There is only one man on that ship who fears God, only one man who has the ability to cry out to a God who actually exists and who actually has the power to calm the storm. And he is the one man who refuses to cry out to his God, the one man who goes below and falls asleep. Even when the captain wakes him and rebukes him for his prayerlessness we get no indication that he prays. His prayerlessness is selfishness and further threatens the crew of that little ship.

If I believe that prayer works, if I believe that prayer is a means through which the Lord acts, if I believe that God chooses to work through prayer in powerful ways and in ways he may not work without prayer, then it is selfish of me not to pray. To pray is to love; not to pray is to be complacent, to be unloving, to be selfish.

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A La Carte (5/13)

There are a bunch of new Kindle deals worth considering: The MacArthur Bible Commentary is a good choice for a single-volume commentary ($5.99); Church History in Plain Language is an excellent one-volume church history ($4.99); Where to Find It in the Bible helps you track down biblical references for contemporary issues ($1.99); One Perfect Life by John MacArthur ($3.99); The Kingdom of the Occult by Walter Martin ($3.99); Peace Child by Don Richardson is a missionary classic ($3.99); The White Umbrella by Mary Frances Bowley ($2.99).

Time for a Tat? - While this (long) article begins with tattoos, it quickly moves to the nature of midlife crises. It’s quite an interesting read.

When Harsh Words Are Kind - “Missionary to India, William Carey, once exhorted a Baptist gathering in England by saying, ‘Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.’ I love that quote. But we must heed the Bible's warning through Simon the Magician: if we attempt great things so that others will see us as great, we are in grave spiritual peril.”

Mom, I Love You But… - Here is some rather humorous evidence that “even after you are all grown up and become the President or whatever, your mom will always be your mom.”

The Heresy of Perfectionism - R.C. Sproul: “The peril of perfectionism is that it seriously distorts the human mind. Imagine the contortions through which we must put ourselves to delude us into thinking that we have in fact achieved a state of sinlessness.” The irony of perfectionism is that it must be a sin to say, “I don’t sin.”

Fight Like a Christian - Here is J.D. Greear on ten ways to fight like a Christian.

Teach us, O Lord, the discipline of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work. —Peter Marshall

Hymn Stories: Just As I Am

Just As I Am” is one of the few hymns for which we know not only the author’s story but also the exact circumstances in which it was written. Charlotte Elliott of Brighton, England (1789-1871) was either born, or in early life had become, an invalid. Her life was a testimony to patient endurance in suffering, not only physical, but also emotional and spiritual. This was the context in which she wrote the hymn, as her nephew the Rev. Handley C. G. Moule recounted it in 1897:

But ill health still beset her … it often caused her the peculiar pain of a seeming uselessness in her life while the circle around her was full of unresting service-ableness for God. Such a time of trial marked the year 1834, when she was forty-five years old, and living in Westfield Lodge, Brighton… .

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Weekend A La Carte (5/11)

W.W. Jay-Z? - Writing for Christianity Today, Russell Moore suggests “how Christian hip-hop could call the American church back to the gospel—and hip-hop back to its roots.”

A Week of Groceries - I always enjoy photo collections like this one. Here is a week of groceries from different families around the world.

How Introverted Pastors Love - John Piper has some helpful thoughts on the introverted pastors. He makes many other observations on 33 years of pastoral ministry.

National Geographic Photo Contest - Here are some of the best photos from this year’s National Geographic Traveler Magazine photo contest. Some of them are nothing short of spectacular.

Porn and the Brain - One fascinating area of research today is the effect of pornography on the brain. The connection does not absolve addicts of blame, but it does warn us of one more negative effect of pornography and explain why the addiction is so difficult to destroy.

Every Generation Is the Me Generation - There have been many interesting reactions to Time Magazine’s cover story on the “Me Me Me Generation.” But as this article explains and displays, every generation is considered the “me generation” at one time or another.

There is no better test of growth than that a man desires God because he is God. —Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Free Stuff Fridays

Free Stuff Fridays
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays sponsored by Truth for Life. Truth for Life is, of course, the Bible-teaching ministry of Alistair Begg. They are offering a great prize package. There will be 5 winners this week, and each of the winners will receive all of these items:

TFL Package

Giveaway Rules: You may enter one time. As soon as the winners have been chosen, all names and addresses will be immediately and permanently erased. Winners will be notified by email. The giveaway closes Saturday at noon.