Book review: Think by John Piper

“Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking.”  Those words, attributed to Steve Jobs, were widely shared shortly after his death in 2011.  Depending on the way in which Job’s words are understood they both agree and disagree with the goal of John Piper in his book Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010).  We can simply live with other people’s thinking, which is not always a bad thing, for much wisdom has come before our era.  Or we can think deeply about what we learn today, so that our faith rests and grows on a solid foundation.

Piper asserts that thinking, i.e. giving serious consideration to the things one is called to believe, is needed for a person to come to faith in Christ, and for one who has that faith to then grow as a Christian.  Rather than simply having ‘faith,’ without understanding what that may mean or how it may call one to live, he makes a “plea to see thinking as a necessary, God-ordained means of knowing God.  Thinking is one of the important ways that we put the fuel of knowledge on the fires of worship and service to the world.” (15)

Using a writing style that is conversational and very readable, Piper starts with a description of his early career, first as a scholar and then a pastor, showing the role that thinking played in broadening and deepening his faith.  He writes “But thinking under the mighty hand of God, thinking soaked in prayer, thinking carried by the Holy Spirit, thinking tethered to the Bible, thinking in pursuit of more reasons to praise and proclaim the glories of God, thinking in the service of love – such thinking is indispensable in a life of fullest praise to God.” (27)

The middle of the book contains a discussion of the importance of thinking in a person’s coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ, showing from the Bible that faith isn't something that is simply ‘acquired’ but must also be understood.   We don’t have faith merely by believing a text such as John 3:16.  Thinking is essential to understanding the meaning contained in the text.

Later in the book Piper explains several ways of thinking that may sound acceptable to modern readers but which are actually contrary to the kind of thought that helps believers to understand God.  He demonstrates the fallacies within relativism, which is a rampant thought-form in the 21^st century, and he also shows how pragmatism and subjectivism are both forces that lead to an exaltation of human thinking, rather than a deepening of godly wisdom.  He concludes with a discussion of the connection between knowledge and humility, demonstrating that while thinking nurtures spiritual maturity and deepens faith it does so in a way that continuously exalts God.

In Matthew 22:37 Jesus said “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  Throughout this book Piper connects loving God with thinking about God deeply, saying “loving God with all our mind means that our thinking is wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express the heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things.” (91, italics Piper)

And “treasuring God above all things” is what a life of Christian faith is all about.

A Teaching Moment

“What are you doing Dad?’” said my six year-old daughter as she entered the dining room.

“Praying” I replied as I raised my head and opened my eyes.

Tomorrow, Saturday, is a work day for me so I had today off. It was very cold this morning and the first thing I had to do when I woke up was to drop my car off to get repaired.  I had planned to drop it off last night, on the way home from work, but it has been a hectic week and plans had to be changed.  A mechanic from the shop gave me a ride back home. 

My daughter and wife were up and getting breakfast together when I got back so I sat and ate with them and then took care of a few things.  Soon my wife was headed off on an errand and I sat down by myself, with my Bible and a devotional reading.  A few minutes into my quiet time with God my daughter came into the room, with her question about my activity, or perhaps, my seeming inactivity.

One thing a day off means is a change in the ordinary Monday through Friday routines.  The basic events of weekday mornings for me are run, clean-up and dress for work, pack lunch, read the Bible and pray, eat breakfast, and then head to work. 

Most days those activities happen when I am the only one awake.  My wife usually gets up for her own quiet time before I leave but our daughter only awakens before I leave for work on rare occasions.  Our little one knows we pray because we have regular patterns of  praying with her, such as if we are all awake when I go to work, at mealtimes, and as the last part of her bedtime routine.  But I can’t recall another time when she has seen me home, by myself, with my Bible open and my hands folded.

I suppose I could have had my ire aroused in some way over her interruption this morning, as I sat in conversation with the Lord God Almighty.  But it is this very same Lord God Almighty who nearly four years ago very powerfully called my wife and I to parent this little girl, so I am glad that instead of being riled up He led me to see the opportunity in the interruption.

All parents watch their children grow and wonder at the possibilities that lie before their lives.  They wonder what kind of people their children will become as they move though the early stages of life and set off on their own as adults.  On our best days we try to give them good directions, to set them on a course to learn the right things and to develop character and integrity.

More than anything else my wife and I desire that our youngest grow into a godly woman, someone who knows God personally and loves God deeply within her soul.  We want to nurture within her faith in Jesus as the bedrock of her identity, because we know from our own experiences that storms will come in life and that Christ Jesus provides the only solid place to stand. 

Proverbs 22:6 says:

“Train up a child in the way he should go;

even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

and Ephesians 6:4 says:

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

I was glad for the small and unplanned opportunity to teach my daughter just a little about prayer and the need to be grounded in God.  We talked about this morning over dinner this evening and our daughter seemed to be pretty oblivious to everything I’ve just written.  That’s okay.  Raising her is a journey and this morning’s moment was just one step along the way. 

I am thankful for the teaching moment of this morning and will try to watch for the next one God will provide.  The long-term goal is to cultivate and nurture the faith that God has given her.  And every time He is using me to work on her He is also working on me too.  And that is one more reason for me to praise God.  Amen.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Review: Forgotten God by Francis Chan

When thinking of God, or praying to God, what is it that Christians usually have in their minds?  Quite often the image is “God” as a somewhat generic supreme being, if God can be considered generic in any way.  Another image is of God as “Father,” one where God is again supreme and also embodying all of the best qualities a person may think of in a parent, without having any of the human characteristics that are somewhat unsavory and may be found even among the best persons, such as fits of temper when exasperated. 

And there is always “Jesus” as the God to whom we pray.  Jesus lived on earth as God’s divine Son, and lives today in heaven at “the right hand of the Father,” to cite the Apostles Creed.  There are numerous Bible verses that instruct Christians to pray to, and through Jesus, so praying to Jesus is another easy image to hold in mind as we pray. 

But to be Christian is to also know that God has revealed himself as Triune, having three distinct persons of Father, Son and Spirit, and yet always being God.  This last person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit, is the subject of Francis Chan’s Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (Colorado Springs, CO: David Cook, 2009).  Chan’s thesis is that the Holy Spirit is frequently neglected among Christians and the aim of his book is to help Christians understand the absolutely essential nature of the Spirit to being a follower of Jesus.  He wants us to love the Spirit as deeply as any other aspect of God, including Jesus, and to be empowered to discern the presence and follow the lead of the Spirit in every aspect of our lives. 

Chan is a gifted preacher, with the ability to clearly express deep and powerful thoughts in ways that make his audience want to love and follow God more than anything else.  His writing has a similar style, and in the seven chapters of this book he leads his readers to a greater understanding of who the Spirit is, what the Spirit does, and what the Spirit can do in the lives of Christians today, should they take the time to listen and follow God’s voice as made known in the Spirit.

Each chapter addresses a way in which the Spirit impacts Christian living, such as why Jesus alone is insufficient, or what a personal relationship with the Spirit might look like for the person who doesn’t yet have one.  Each chapter also includes a brief story of someone that Chan knows who is living in a way that demonstrates the Spirit at work in their life. 

Chan believes that many Christians often look to God to meet their own needs, rather than seeking God and submitting themselves to God’s purposes.  He writes, “[God] wants us to know that His gift of the Holy Spirit is really not for our own pleasure or purposes.  The Spirit is meant to lead us toward holiness.  The Spirit is here with us to accomplish God’s purposes, not ours.” (93)  It is the Spirit, living within Christians, that guides, strengthens, and comforts Christians for a life of joyful submission to God in the world, come what may. 

I really liked this book and thought it was a good follow-up to his preceding book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God.  In Crazy Love Chan wrote about the greatness and goodness of God, a God so wonderful that, in faith, we should be head-over-heels in love with him.  In Forgotten God we are shown that it is the Spirit active in us that makes that type of love of God possible. 

Forgotten God ends with this heartfelt word of prayer, “Come, Holy Spirt, come.  We don’t know exactly what that means and looks like for each of us yet, in the particular places You’ve called us to inhabit.  But, nonetheless, whatever it means, we ask for Your presence. Come, Holy Spirit, come.”

Book Review: the Christian atheist

What does it mean to call oneself a “Christian” today?  I imagine that the number of variations in answers would be equal to the number of people who respond “yes” when they are asked if they self-identify as a “Christian.”  And can a person who calls themself a Christian also be an atheist, someone who simultaneously believes that God does, and does not, exist?  While this latter possibility may be rare, as far as one person saying that both Christianity and atheism are true for them, Craig Groeschel believes that such a combination is the functional faith of many Christians.  These are the people he writes for in the Christian atheist, which bears the apt subtitle: Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn’t Exist.

Groeschel speaks from personal experience, although his credentials wouldn’t make you think so.  He is the founding and senior pastor of a multi-site church in Oklahoma.  He is also married and the father of six children.  Yet as he takes a look at his own life he sees many of the same issues of professing belief in one thing but living in a different manner in his daily life, something that he also sees within the congregation he pastors and in Christians throughout the United States. 

Each of the chapter titles begins “When you believe in God but…”  The “but” demonstrates the disconnect between faith and an aspect of life, such as “…but don’t really know Him,” “…but are ashamed of your past,” “…but not in prayer,” “…but still worry all the time,” and “…but not in His church.”  Groeschel walks through each of his topics, demonstrating the difference between how people often live and what they believe.  He then discusses what the Bible says about the topic and then provides examples of what life could look like, examples that call his readers to a more mature expression of their own faith in God.  And he does this all in a manner that I find to be very gentle and pastoral. 

One example is found in the chapter on dealing with the shame of one’s past, where he writes, “We are not our sins.  And we’re also not what others have done to us.  Rather, we are who God says we are: his children.  We are forgivable.  We are changeable.  We are capable.  We are moldable.  And we are bound by the limitless love of God.” (52) 

Groeschel has a humble tone and knows well each of the areas he discusses, from both his own personal life and the lives of those he shepherds in his congregation.  His guidance is practical and faithful to Biblical teaching.  I could go on and on but instead will close, giving this book an unreserved recommendation.  If there is a disconnect in your own life as a Christian, Groeschel has written something that will likely help on your journey.  Even if he doesn’t address your specific issue a thoughtful reader will be able to adapt his wisdom to their particular situation.  And in the end it is not really so much about our personal faith but the way in which we bear witness to God, they ways in which we serve and glorify Him in the world.

Come of Age

Maybe you became a Christian after hearing the Good News of Jesus and choosing to respond to him.  Perhaps God powerfully grabbed a hold of you and compelled you to believe the Gospel.  Or maybe you are a Christian because you have always been one, neither remembering a time when you weren’t one or being able to imagine the possibility that you could not believe.  Maybe you came to Christ in some other manner.  Or maybe you are still on the fence, unsure what to make of Jesus.  No matter how you may have come by the label of “Christian,” nearly all who claim it would agree with the idea that it is not merely something you are, but it is also an identity that calls you to grow within it.  Growth as a Christian is the subject of Angus Buchan’s Come of Age: The Road to Spiritual Maturity. (2011: Monarch Books; 382 pp).

Buchan is from South Africa, where for over 30 years he has been both a farmer and an evangelist.  I had never heard of him before reading this book but apparently he is very well-known in his home country and he has also traveled widely through Africa, England and Australia.  He has founded a men’s ministry that started small but in 10 year’s time drew about 200,000 men to its rally in 2009.  It is the 2009 rally that serves as the jumping-off point for Come of Age. 

The typical pattern of the rally is to have worship on Friday evening and twice Saturday, with men only, and then to have wives and families join the closing session on Sunday.  In 2009 Buchan fell ill shortly before he was scheduled to preach on Saturday and was airlifted to a hospital.  While he appeared to have one, and possibly two, heart attacks, he was released from the hospital and able to preach for the final event on Sunday, with no medical evidence of any damage to his heart.  He was 61 years old at the time but this event brought to him an acute awareness of the brevity of human life and the need for him to live as a mature Christian and to call other Christians to maturity as well, hence the title, Come of Age.

In the first chapter Buchan writes of the 2009 rally and his heart attack and the way that it caused him to take a new look at his life and his ministry.  After that he writes topically, touching on many aspects in which a believer in Jesus can grow as a person of faith.  Some chapters are brief and some are longer but all are easy to read and not weighed down with sophisticated theology.  Buchan started out as a farmer and in the shift to becoming an evangelist and mentor he has remained eminently practical.  One of his strengths is that he has a deep love for both his Savior and for the Bible, something that is evident on nearly every page.  He longs for people to come to faith, for people to see God at work in their lives, and then to share that knowledge with others.

While I sincerely believe that his heart is in the right place it seems as if his passion occasionally clouds his view and subtly subverts his intended goal of spiritual maturity.  An example is the chapter addressing marriage, where he rightly points out the ways in which at its best Christian marriage points us to the joy Christians will know in heaven.  On a Saturday at one rally five men felt so convicted of the error of their lifestyle, i.e. living with women while not being married to them, that they asked Buchan to marry them at the Sunday morning worship, a request that he complied with.  It struck me that as a mature Christian it may have better to counsel the young men to change their living arrangements, and then guide them to prayerfully seek God’s will about the relationship.  As mature Christians we should learn to wait upon the Lord, rather than to shape our lifestyles to fit what we presume to be the shape that is most pleasing to God.

As I read the book I found that I increasingly liked Buchan and his passion for the Gospel but that the guidance he was offering was fairly superficial.  Spiritual maturity is something that all Christians should strive for when they come to faith and it should be the place where they live until they are called to join the Lord in heaven.  The Bible calls this process discipleship and Jesus commanded it of his followers, saying in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” True maturity as a Christian benefits from several things.  One of them is intentionality and another is community, and I mean community not in the sense of those people that one worships with each week but a small group that regularly meets for the purposes of growth and accountability.

Early in my life as a Christian God led me to such a group and we used a number of things to shape our activity together.  One of these was a covenant, which we wrote together to give a meaningful shape to our group time each week.  The covenant kept us “on track,” reminding us of our purpose and reducing the likelihood that our time together would degenerate to wandering, instead of following a path to a destination.

Another thing our group regularly used were books written to guide spiritual formation.  While Buchan correctly points out that to be a Christian means to be intentional in growth, there are many books available that do a better job than his of engaging minds and hearts as they follow the Lord.  Some veteran authors of this genre that I have read and recommend are Beth Moore, Jerry Bridges, Paul Tripp and Eugene Peterson.  A visit to a Christian bookstore will provide a number of others.  One thing Come of Age has done is to whet my appetite to pick up a book by one of the authors listed that I’ve read before and see how it speaks freshly into my life today.  And also to read it with an eye to the clearest source of spiritual wisdom the God has given us, the Bible.