The resurgence of Biblical theological studies is enriched by Jason S. DeRouchie’s What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About. Seventeen authors contributed articles to this redemptive-historical survey of the Old Testament. Through numerous charts and illustrations, the kingdom theme is unfolded from the Law to the Prophets.

The Old Testament was the Bible that Jesus read; the Scriptures that He claimed “testify of me.” For too long, this volume of Scripture has been viewed as the Jewish book; the part of the Bible that related to Israel.  In What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About we discover that the Old Testament is a Christian book; it is the book of the coming Messiah.

What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About is textbook material. It is rich in photographs, charts, illustrations, and maps. Chapters end with a review of key words and concepts. This is not a survey in the traditional sense of a survey, nor is it an introduction. Critical matters such as authorship are given scant attention.  Rather, it is an overview of each Old Testament author’s contribution to the unfolding story of redemption.

Readers from a dispensational perspective will be less thrilled about this volume. The contributors do not take that approach to the prophetic books in particular. One example of this is found in contributor Gary E. Yates remarks concerning the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah;

 The new covenant would [provide] spiritual transformation for all who belonged to the covenant: “They shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest…for I will forgive their iniquity” (31:34; cf. Deut. 30:6). Ultimately, it is the work of the Messiah Jesus that makes this possible, “to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). The restored remnant of Israel and the nations, with hearts now surrendered to Yahweh and the royal descendent of David (Jer. 23:5; 30:9), would never again have to experience judgment and exile for disobedience to Yahweh’s commands, and they would forever enjoy fullness of blessings in the Promised Land (32:39=41) (p. 256, italics original).

 

Preston Sprinkle’s comments on Ezekiel are even plainer:

 What are we to make of this future temple? Should we anticipate the future rebuilding of a literal temple, fully equipped with a Levitical priesthood (44:15-31) performing sacrifices for atonement for sin (45:15-17, 20)? This literal interpretation is possible and is suggested by the fact that Ezekiel is shown such detailed measurements of this temple (40:5-42:20) and given such detailed guidelines about how worship should be conducted within it (chs. 44-46). This literal interpretation runs into problems, however, when we look at the book of Hebrews, where the Old Testament sacrificial system is clearly a mere shadow pointing to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ (see esp. Heb. 10). …

Premillennial dispensationalism seems to be the evangelical default position. Many (including the reviewer) were trained in this context. This volume offers an invigorating challenge to this interpretive scheme. At least for some, this book will encourage a rereading of the Old Testament Scriptures in a Christological context.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 

Book Review: Embracing Shared Ministry

It should not take another book to explain the radical nature of the way of Christ when compared to non-Christian society. However, sometimes we need to be reminded of the counter-cultural call of Christianity. This is the premise behind Joseph Hellerman’s Embracing Shared Ministry: Power and Status in the Early Church and Why it Matters Today.

I admit that I expected something different from the book when I decided to read it. I anticipated another book on the wisdom of plural leadership in the church. It certainly is that; but it is more.

Joseph Hellerman begins by showing that Philippi, which is specifically identified in Acts as a Roman colony, was immersed in the culture of honor and prestige that dominated Roman society. He summarizes this by saying, “The people of Philippi had been socialized to embrace the status conscious, honor-oriented values of their cultural world” (p.26). As a Roman colony, Philippi was a “Rome away from Rome.” It is fitting, then, that it was to believers in this church that Paul expounded the selfless self-emptying of Christ in the richly Christological passage of Phil. 2:4-11. Hellerman reminds us that this deep, theologically rich Christology was given in the context of inter-personal behaviors and not in the halls of the academy. Theology is to be lived.

After building upon this and exposing our own culture’s romance with honor and status, the author makes a plea for church leadership that more closely imitates the way of the cross as described in Phil. 2:4-11. We know too well that many churches tend to follow corporate strategies designed more for the business world than for the flock for whom Christ died.

This book is a good exercise in interpreting Scripture in the context in which it was written. We tend to judge the example of Christ by modern concepts of  humility. Hellerman clearly shows the absolutely radical nature of Paul’s injunction when viewed through first century Roman lenses.

As I progressed to the latter part of the book, I wondered if Hellerman would take a more extreme approach and denounce leadership out of hand. He does not. He knows that leadership is necessary and that, like nature, it abhors a vacuum. Someone will lead. It is the quality, accountability, and relational nature of that leadership that makes the difference.

Embracing Shared Ministry is a welcomed addition to the body of literature available in church leadership. It may send some sacred cows to the altar, but such sacrifices need to be made.

 Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

 

 

Tattooed Jesus

A co-worker sent this link to several of us and asked for our thoughts. Perhaps you have you have already seen the story or heard the buzz. This story is about a billboard that supposedly depicts Jesus sporting tattoos. Here is my comment:

I read this statement yesterday and found it to be surprisingly appropriate to this discussion, The author was writing about the church at the end of the first century; "The process of accommodation to the values of the dominant culture continued unabated for the next several centuries..." (Embracing Shared Ministry: Power and Status in the Early Church and Why it Matters Today by Joseph H. Hellerman). His point was that the early Christians were known for their counter cultural message. Unfortunately, it did not take long for assimilation and syncretism to set in.

One might argue that a tattooed Jesus is counter-cultural. No doubt the intent was to show that Jesus came to "seek and to save the lost."  But this image is radical only if the dominant culture is one of white shirts, ties, and wing tips. This is obviously not the case. In fact, body art is embraced by the culture in ways previously unknown. So, a picture of a tattooed Jesus should certainly come as no surprise.

May be the larger is this: why are people upset because their favorite rendition of Jesus is being defaced? Since when did we learn what Jesus actually looked like? The billboard merely shows a man who represents what we have embraced as the image of Jesus, without any empirical evidence.

What is even more disturbing is this: when did it become OK to violate the 2nd commandment and revere images as representations of God? The uproar over this is telling.

Vanity Plates

Vanity plates have long been a means of self-expression. Sometimes it’s fun to guess what the combination of letters and numbers signify. Recently, I followed a new, shiny, black Mercury with titanium wheels, driven by a woman, who from what I could see, was very well dressed. Her license plate read “GD FVR ME.” I assume the message was “God favors me.” I do not know this person, so I could not possibly comment upon the truthfulness of that statement. But as I saw that plate on that car I began to ponder the message.

I have just upgraded my vehicle to a 2001 Buick Century. This was my wife’s car, but we “upgraded” the Buick to a 2001 mini-van. For the past 3 years, my “ride” was a 1993 Chevrolet Lumina. This was a dependable car, although not particularly attractive. I am convinced that a GD FVR ME vanity plate would not have the same impact hanging on my 1993 Lumina.

The message seems to be that if God does favor you, the manifestation of that would be in the form of a shiny, new, black Mercury. I would not be opposed to a new Mercury if God saw fit to bless me with one. However, if God’s expression of favor to me is the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, and the surpassing riches of knowing and loving Jesus, I’ll take the Lumina.

The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good

Several books have been recently published that explore the dangers inherent in ministries that target the poor and underserved segments of the population. Toxic Charity shows how well intentioned ministry can actually be detrimental in the long run, particularly if that ministry fails to address the causes that precipitated the individual’s dependence upon our charity. When I requested the book, The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good, I thought would be reading along the same lines.

Peter Greer offers a great balance to the growing list of titles about people helping people. Unlike Toxic Charity, Greer does not deal with how our helping people can hurt those who are helped; rather he shows how helping people can hurt the people who are the helpers. The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good recounts the dangers that may easily overtake the leaders involved in ministry. Chapters cover topics like “the Spiritual Danger of Giving Leftovers to Loved Ones” (especially convicting), “The Spiritual Danger of Justifying Minor Moral Lapses for a Good Cause” and “The Spiritual Danger of Thinking You’re the Superhero in Your Story,” to name a few.

When you read the chapter titles, it is easy to think of certain individuals in the public spotlight who have become the poster child for the dangers covered in the chapters. Greer, however, avoids the easy targets and shows how all of these dangers can trip up any of us. He takes a shot at all of us with words like, “Nothing is wrong in taking pleasure in your work… Work is a gift. But finding your identity in your work is a cheap substitute for finding your worth in Jesus Christ. And I’d forgotten my identity as a Christian leader was subordinate to my calling as a follower of Him (italics original).”

My wife finished The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good before I did. Her comment was that “every man in ministry should be required to read this.” I finished the book. I concur.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Library Thing as part of their Early Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

 

 

Interpreting Paul

John D. Harvey offers a helpful volume for anyone who desires to understand and teach the letters of the apostle Paul. Interpreting the Pauline Letters is a brief guide (210 pages including glossary) that leads the reader from the text to proclamation. The book flows logically from genre to theology to text critical issues to exegesis and exposition. While it certainly is not exhaustive, Harvey includes every issue that the student of Paul needs to research while embarking upon such a study.


Particularly helpful is the chapter titled “Preparing to Interpret Paul’s Letters.” This is a quick study on textual criticism and translational issues. Harvey indicates that prior to interpreting the text, it is wise to review the textual variants and arrive at the likely form of the text one wishes to understand. I found myself resurrecting the Greek I had allowed to mold in my mind to get the most from this section. It is not necessary to know New Testament Greek, however, to profit from this volume.

This book indicates that it is part of the Handbooks for New Testament Exegesis series. If the other volumes in the series are as helpful as this one, the series would be a welcome addition to any library.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

Feed My Sheep

Edited by R. Albert Mohler, Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching includes articles by a “who’s who” of modern evangelical, gospel preaching, Christ loving preachers. I personally think that every believer should read at least 1 book on preaching. It makes sense that, if God has chosen to save His people through the foolishness of preaching, then preaching should be an important concern for every Christian and not just the ones who have been called and gifted to do it. Contributors to Feed My Sheep are those who some will recognize, and others will not. Writers include R. Albert Mohler, the late James M. Boice, R.C. Sproul, Sinclair Ferguson and John MacArthur.


While acknowledging luminaries in the modern field of preaching, we are to scrupulously avoid the cult of personality that invades the Christian sub-culture. Unfortunately, no stream of Christian community is completely immune from this. I receive a bi-weekly “fundamentalist, independent, Baptist, KJV only” publication where the photograph of the contributing writer or advertising church pastor is the primary feature (a recent edition had 88 mug shots on 24 pages).

The Pentecostal wing of the culture adores such nearly household names like T.D. Jakes, Ken & Gloria Copeland, and John Hagee. The fact that many will know these names and few of the ones mentioned above demonstrates the success of self promotion. Of course, the more “moderate” stream of the Christian media will recognize the names of Joel Osteen and Rick Warren.

John MacArthur speaks to the “rock star” mentality that sadly permeates our Christian culture. In Feed My Sheep he writes:

If you want to be used mightily by God, get yourself out of the way. Learn to see yourself as a garbage pail, or, in the words of Peter, to clothe yourself with humility (1 Peter 5:5). It’s not about you; it’s not your personality, it’s the Word of God. God doesn’t need the intellectuals. He doesn’t need great people, fancy people, or famous people. The people aren’t the power. The power is the message! He puts the treasure in clay pots so that the ‘surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves’ (2 Cor. 4:7b) (page 154).

Book Review

Kregel has supplied a very helpful study/teaching tool with their publication of Lars Kierspel’s Charts on the Life, Letters, and Theology of Paul. I own other volumes of “Charts” that cover different aspects of Biblical studies; however, none of them are as complete as this volume by Kierspel.

The 111 charts range from “snapshot” summaries of Paul’s epistles to discussion about specific issues that arise in the Pauline writings, such as divorce & remarriage, questions about the law, criteria for the selection of elders, to current treatments on the new perspectives on Paul. One of the more helpful features of this resource is the 40+ pages of explanatory comments that follow toward the end of the book.

This is a great teaching tool. The publishers have granted permission to reproduce these charts for classroom use. Even more helpful would be a CD-ROM version that could be loaded to a power point presentation. This may be something that could be considered in future editions.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

Hoping in God

Regardless of your opinion about Rick Warren's ministry, this is a time when the Christian community should "mourn with them that mourn." Michael Patton provides an insightful and compassionate post here.

Book Review: Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart

“If there were a Guinness Book of World Records record for ‘amount of times having asked Jesus into your heart,’ I’m pretty sure I would hold it. By the time I reached the age of eighteen I had probably ‘asked Jesus into my heart’ five thousand times…” So begins Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart by J.D. Greear. I can certainly identify with this statement. As a young college student, I was perplexed by an evangelist who came to the church I attended and preached repeatedly that one’s assurance of salvation was based upon his recollection of the time that he asked Jesus into his heart as Savior. If any of us could not remember, we were encouraged by this evangelist to rush to the front of the church when the altar call began, ask Jesus into our hearts, and then record the date in the front of our Bibles. If doubts should ever again arise, we were to turn to the recorded date and the doubts would quickly disappear. If, in fact, we were actually saved to begin with, the activity would not hurt anything. No harm, no foul – and the evangelist would get to add us to his growing number of decisions for which was responsible. I suspect that many people raised in fundamentalist churches can testify to similar experiences.


Greear reminds us that this kind of thinking moves the basis of assurance from what Christ accomplished for us to some accomplishment on our part. Scripture teaches us that the basis of our salvation is firmly fixed on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He describes salvation as “a posture of repentance and faith toward the finished work of Christ in which you transfer the weight of your hopes of heaven off your own righteousness and onto the finished work of Jesus Christ.” This “present posture” of repentance and faith is “better proof [of a point in time decision] that a past memory.”

Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart is a great resource for those who may have been exposed to irresponsible teaching in the name of evangelistic zeal. It is also a helpful reminder for those who struggle with the idea of an eternal salvation (aka eternal security) in the very real context of those who appear to fall away. At less than 125 pages, it is a quick, but profitable read.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Library Thing as part of their Early Reviewers Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

7 Sentences that Sound Crazy but are Still Grammatical

For lovers of language, this is way cool. English - what a language!

The Conviction to Lead

Of the making of books on leadership, there is no end. It has almost become its own genre. This is not a bad thing, for whether the leader is made or born, all need help with the assignment. Albert Mohler has entered the discussion with his latest book, The Conviction to Lead. Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is not immediately known as a John Maxwell or Steven Covey type of leadership guru. He is best known for his theologically astute commentary on culture and Christianity. However, in The Conviction to Lead, he has given an outstanding treatment on leadership from a Christian perspective.


In the realm of pastoral ministry, evangelicalism is often divided into opposing ideas. There is the entrepreneurial pastor/leader that sees his main task as leading and building a church in ways similar to a CEO of a successful corporation. Others view pastoral responsibility in the shepherd/theologian model, eschewing leadership as a secular pursuit beneath the dignity of the pulpit ministry. Dr. Mohler sees that there is value to be gleaned from both models. His goal is “to redefine Christian leadership so that it is inseparable from passionately held beliefs, and to motivate those who are deeply committed to truth to be ready for leadership” (p.20).

This book is a “must read” for everyone in any position of leadership in a Christian organization. That it comes from one who has over 2 decades of significant leadership under his belt and who is also one of the premier theologians of our day is commendation enough.

The Jesus Scandals

Was the life of Jesus scandalous? According to David Instone-Brewer it was. In the context of modern scandals like we see on the news it wasn’t, but certainly it was in the minds of 1st century Jews and pagans who were not prepared for the claims of Christ. According to Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, Jesus was a stumbling block to the Jews and a scandal to the Gentiles.


Instone-Brewer takes the reader back into the culture of first century Palestine and examines the life and ministry of Jesus in that context. His dubious birth claims, his questionable associations and his unorthodox teachings – all accepted by moderns who have had 2000 years to examine them – were quite scandalous to those early hearers.

The Jesus Scandals is divided into 3 sections, all dealing with how the message and ministry of Jesus was viewed as radical in the context of his life and culture. The first section is called “Scandals in His Life” and it covers such things as his questionable birth, his life as a single man when marriage and family were the norm, and his shameful execution as a common criminal.

Section Two is called “Scandals among Jesus’ Friends.” In this part, one reads of those people with whom Jesus’ associated. The Pharisees continually harangued about the cadre of people who were attracted to Jesus. That Jesus would associate with such people was a scandal in itself.

Section Three is “Scandals in Jesus’ Teaching.” These are perhaps the “scandal’s” with which most of us are more familiar. During his ministry, Jesus taught on a variety of topics, all which seemed to contradict the teaching of the Pharisees and confound and amaze his hearers. Some of these include divorce and remarriage, dishonesty, cursing, and “the unpardonable sin.”

The Jesus Scandals reminds us that his teachings are still scandalous and becoming more so as our culture embraces pluralism and postmodern ways of thinking. Jesus brought a radical message that when understood is still scandalous.