Book Review: A Meal With Jesus by Tim Chester

It has been a while since a book so surprised and delighted me as did A Meal With Jesus by Tim Chester. The way in which something so mundane and average as a meal was vested with such theological depth and significance was astounding. And yet, Tim is only following in the pattern that Jesus set in his ministry. He has found the gospel in the grub, or as the subtitle puts it: "Discovering grace, community, and mission around the table".

Jesus is called "a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." This is why eating and drinking were so important in the mission of Jesus: they were a sign of his friendship with tax collectors and sinners. His "excess" of food and "excess" of grace a linked. In the ministry of Jesus, meals were enacted grace, community and mission. So the meals of Jesus represent something bigger. They represent a new world, a new kingdom, a new outlook. But they give that new reality substance. Jesus's meals are not just symbols; they're also application. They're not just pictures; they're the real thing in miniature. (p. 14)

This book has been a very timely one for me as I am just about to make a shift in my community group from one that was very content-heavy to one that is more community-driven (I know, where'd I come up with it, right?). The only unfortunate part to changing our format is that I can't make this book required reading.

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Recommended for: Ministry leaders, especially small group leaders, anyone looking for a fresh read from the usual Christian fare

Westminster Bookstore has A Meal With Jesus at the best internet price I could find: $10.04 (33% off)

Book Review: Cruciform by Jimmy Davis

Cruciform Press is a brand new publisher that seems to be on the cutting edge of publishing in the digital age. One book is released each month (in print, ebook, and audio) and they are concise enough (about 100 pages) that you can finish one before the next comes out. But the really unique thing about Cruciform Press is the fact that you can subscribe to their monthly releases for dirt cheap.

So, it is only fitting that one of the first books released by Cruciform Press is called Cruciform: Living the Cross-Shaped Life. Jimmy Davis presents a simple and simply beautiful picture of what living a life shaped by the gospel looks like and it forms the crux (pun intended) of the book.

"The Gospel accounts of Jesus' life, along with the prescription for the Christian life found in the rest of the New Testament, have convinced me there are two major roles in which disciples progressively become like their Master (Luke 6:40). As we each become more and more conformed to the image of Christ, we increasingly live as son and love as servant." (p. 35)

The book resonates with these twin themes of son and servant, and Jimmy's writing is at its best in such simplicity and clarity. Consequently, this simplicity is lost when Jimmy begins to diagram the aspects of the Christian life into the shape of a cross. The constant references to the diagram and the various explanations of the pictures seemed to break the flow of the book for me in a way that hurt rather than helped me follow his train of thought.

However, there is much to be commended here in both author and publisher. If this book is a sign of things to come, I expect great things from both!

"When through the gospel we have become sons, then through the gospel we can become servants." (p. 55)

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Recommended for: Any Christian seeking a gospel-driven life

This book was a free review copy provided by Cruciform Press.

Book Review: Don't Call It a Comeback, Kevin DeYoung, ed.

I've read quite a few books in the past year with multiple contributing authors, but none of them have read with the clarity and consistency of Don't Call It a Comeback. Perhaps it is due to the shared commonality of the authors: a rising generation of evangelical and reformed thinkers (and more than a few bloggers) shaped by the likes of Piper and Carson. But what ever the cause, the result is a book that is cogent, consistent, and a joy to read.

The book is broken up into three sections:

1. Part 1: Evangelical History: Looking Forward and Looking Back
   
2. Part 2: Evangelical Theology: Thinking, Feeling, and Believing the Truths That Matter Most
   
3. Part 3: Evangelical Practice: Learning to Live Life God's Way
   

The first section is a brief two-chapter introduction to evangelicalism, and section two has all the perennial topics you would expect (God, Scripture, the gospel, Jesus Christ). But section three really shows why this book is "The old faith for a new day". In "Part 3: Evangelical Practice" the authors (Kevin DeYoung and Justin Taylor, e.g.) address such topics as homosexuality, abortion, gender confusion, and social justice.

While the chapter on missions was as fitting an ending as any, my one complaint is that the book ended awkwardly without a summary or epilogue. Lacking such a tidy conclusion, the book seems to halt abruptly.

That one fault aside Don't Call It a Comeback has, in my humble opinion, done exactly what it set out to accomplish:

"to introduce young Christians, new Christians, and underdisciplined Christians to the most important articles of our faith and what it looks like to live out this faith in real life."

Not bad for a bunch of pastor/bloggers.

Westminster Bookstore has Don't Call It a Comeback for 33% off retail ($11.38).

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Recommended for: "young Christians, new Christians, and underdisciplined Christians"

This book was a free review copy provided by Crossway.

Just FYI . . .

Book Review: Closing the Window by Tim Chester

Christians and pornography. Depending on who you talk to, you'll get one of three responses: 1) it's a deeper, more wide spread problem within Christianity than we know or want to admit, 2) the problem is overblown and the statistics are imbalanced, or 3) *cough* uhhhhhh, next topic.

In Closing the Window, Tim Chester cites a number of different studies and surveys that have very consistent results: one in three. One in three people in the church are struggling with pornography. While I'm not one to bicker about the numbers, I think it's fair to say that it's a growing problem for each subsequent generation within the church.

And Tim has written a gospel-saturated little book (146 pages) that will be indispensable for anyone leading men, young adults, or a whole church. As one of those leaders, I am constantly looking for books that handle tough topics in a way that is simple, clear, and relatively brief to build a "loaner library". I believe that Tim Chester's Closing the Window is the book for just that purpose.

The structure of the book revolves around "Five Keys in the Battle Against Porn":

1. Abhorrence of porn
2. Adoration of God
3. Assurance of grace
4. Avoidance of temptation
5. Accountability to others

"We become Christians through faith and repentance. We continue and grow by ongoing faith and repentance. And this means that we counter porn through faith and repentance. Battling porn with faith means embracing the truth about God in place of the false promises of porn. Battling porn with repentance means turning from self to worship God."

Westminster Books has the best price I've seen for Closing the Window at 33% off list price ($10.05).

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Recommended for: Pastors, youth workers, men's ministry leaders, porn addicts

This book was a free review copy provided by InterVarsity Press.

Book Review: Hipster Christianity by Brett McCracken

The collision of cool and Christianity. Most would not think there would be enough material there to fill a book. Or that said material could be intelligent, humorous, and thought-provoking.

Brett McCracken has proven most of us wrong with Hipster Christianity. Brett does an excellent job of taking what could easily be a wholly tongue-in-cheek topic and turning it into something theologically deep and challenging. While he seems to spend more time forming and asking questions than answering them, the questions he does ask are important ones. Consider:

Perhaps there is a third option—a much more insidious, countercultural idea: perhaps Christianity is hopelessly unhip, maybe even the anticool. What if it turns out that Christianity's endurance comes from the fact that it is, has been, and continues to be the antithesis and antidote to the intoxicating and exhausting drive in our human nature for cool?

This is not to say that the book is simply cold and academic. The research-paper-on-steroids feel is broken up by occasional humorous lists like: "Favorite Hipster TV Shows", "Reasons Why Calvinism is Hipster-Friendly", and the uncomfortably close to home "CCM Albums of the Nineties That Make Christian Hipsters Nostalgic". Brett treads the fine line in addressing a serious issue within Christianity with care, insight, and healthy dose of irony and wit. This is certainly something quite difficult to pull off and the fact that Brett does so with such seeming ease is a true testament to—dare I say it?—how cool he is. (See what I did there? Emphasized the point with a negative example.)

If you're not yet convinced, you can read a free chapter here.

If you're concerned, you can take the "Are You a Christian Hipster?" quiz here.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Recommended for: Anyone interested in the pulse of Christianity, the dynamic of being "in but not of the world"

This book was a free review copy provided by Baker Books.

Book Review: Long Story Short by Marty Machowski

The phrase "gospel-centered" is an easy label to tag on a book these days to sell a couple extra copies. Long Story Short, however, is the last book that could be accused of such a move.

This book, from beginning to end, is about Jesus in the Old Testament and it's perhaps the coolest family devotional I've even seen (or been subjected to). The layout is attractive and the structure is simple.

Every week presents an Old Testament passage, studies it, and then connects it to Jesus. As the author himself says, "Long Story Short connects each story to God's larger redemptive plan. Every lesson answers the question, 'Where is Jesus in this lesson?'"

Machowski spends an entire 1/3 of the book on studies from Genesis, so don't expect every inch of the Old Testament to be covered. However, this book has 78 weeks (or a year and a half) worth of material in it, so nobody's getting short-changed here. The simplicity with which these studies go back and forth between Christ and the Old Testament should impress parents without confusing kids. This is not always an easy thing to do, but Marty pulls it off!

Now my only question is: how young is too young to start going through this with my daughter?

Westminster Bookstore currently has the best price I can find online for Long Story Short, $13.39.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Recommended for: Families

This book was a free review copy provided by New Growth Press.