John Calvin, Pilgrim and Pastor, by W. Robert Godfrey

Robert Godfrey gives us a delightful short biography of the life of John Calvin one of the most renowned Reformer in the 16th Century. Calvin spent his life studying, writing and preaching the word of the God. As part of that influence he also was involved in the local politics of the community as during that time the church and state were fairly closely tied.

One example pointed out in the text of this tie is the fact that Calvin believed that The Lord's Supper should be celebrated once a week during the normal worship time for the church. But the local city government declared that communion would only be held once a quarter, so that is what happened (this was a concession as it had been once a year). While we today would frown upon the state having control over when we administer communion it was not as harsh an edict during Calvin's life. The church and state often worked together.

Calvin was not a fan of the Catholic Church, he was a Reformer. He was driven out of France and went to live in Geneva. He was also run out of Geneva and went to Germany. But soon was inticed to come back to Geneva as the city fathers realized they made a mistake and they needed the intellect and piety of John Calvin to restore order to the church, and to defend the church against those whom took exception to their teachings.

As such Calvin at times would come under attack by critics. Some of those Critics were actually arrested, tried and put to death because of the heresy that they were teaching. Times were certainly different during Calvin's life than what we experience today.

Calvin found time to write commentaries on each book of the Bible as well as write a multi volume set on the Doctrines of the Church. He also preached, taught at the local Bible School and wrote hundreds of letters to correct both critics and other pastors who were in error.

This short book contains chapters regarding Calvins thoughts on;
1. The Church and Worship
2. The Church and the Sacraments
3. The Church and Predestination
4. The Church, the City, and the Schools
5. Calvin and the Institutes (his written work on Theology)

If you have never read anything on John Calvin this would be a wonderful place to start. After reading this you might consider picking up one of the books that contains his letters to others, or some of his sermons. Also you can find reprints of individual volumes of his commentaries or the whole set.

This book was written to commemorate the 500th birthday of John Calvin. I trust you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Enjoy!

Tempted and Tried, by Russell D. Moore

Russell Moore provides us with an excellent thesis on the Temptation of Christ” and all of the nuances of the temptations as well as that of Christ response.  Along with this Moore does a wonderful job of addressing how we today are faced with temptations and how subtle Satan is in how he approaches us and dangles the temptations in front of us.

At first I thought how can Moore take a small section of scripture from Matthew 4 and write a 200 page book on the subject?  In all honesty if you were one of the men at Promise Keepers in Boulder, CO when Rev. E.V. Hill taught this section of scripture you will remember that he only spoke for 10 minutes (he usually preaches over an hour).  His main point, “When Satan comes at you with temptations just HIT HIM with the Word of God.”  He then said, “do you understand that, just HIT HIM!”

The 50,000 men in the stadium started chanting, hit him, hit him, hit him.  E.V. knew that he had made his point so he packed up his papers and walked off the podium.  The men started chanting it even louder.  As E.V. got to the tunnel to exit the stadium and got out of sight the chanting started to die down, so he turned around stepped back out and just thrust his Bible in the air and the chanting started again and lasted for 10 more minutes.

So, if we can get the point in just 10 minutes why write a book of 200 pages?  Well the answer is that there is even more to this section of scripture and more deep theological truth that we can garner for a good exegesis of the passage.  Moore gives us very practical examples of how we are affected today by temptation and what we need to learn.

One example is on page 86 in response to the first temptation about consuming food.  Moore states, “The first temptation is not just about consuming food, it is about consuming, period.  It is about our quest for economic security, our appetite for stuff.”  Does that ring the truth bell for you?  It did for me.  We in America are obsessed it seems like to have all the newest gadgets and every material item that will ‘make our lives easier.’  Why does it not surprise us that the storage unit business is one of the fastest growing businesses in our country.

Moore goes on to say on page 87, “It is hardly legalism to ask such questions as, how much of this do we need?  And how much are we giving away?  And so on.”

He further states, “Self-control is, in this fallen world, counterintuitive and countercultural.”  So, have you fallen to the temptation of Satan to obtain all that you can?

One more area of example.  In regards to the temptation to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple and allow the Angels to rescue him, Jesus says no.  Moore points out that when it comes to vindicating ourselves regarding our faith in God’s protection or provision or position we do not need to be the ones striving to vindicate ourselves.  We need to let God do the vindication for us.  Moore states on page 116, “Public vindication is a critical part of God’s deliverance of his people.  God doesn’t simply set a table for me, the Scripture says, he sets this table ‘in the presence of my enemies’ (Ps. 23:5)”

So, how is your faith?  Do you allow God to vindicate you rather than fall victim to the temptations of Satan?

Well, I could go on and on but then you probably would stop reading.

So, stop reading this review and instead go to your favorite online book store and “click” on the “purchase this book” button and get a copy for yourself and enjoy it!

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, by Francis Chan

There are lots of reviews already on this book, it has been out forever, but for whatever reason I just now got around to reading it.  What an absolutely fabulous book.

Francis Chan does a powerful job of reminding us of the Love that Christ has for us and the Love that we should have for Him.  When you are crazy in love you will do anything for your loved one. You will go to any lengths to protect them, to champion them, to tell others about them.  So, if that is true why do we not act this way in regards to our Lord and Savior?  Why is it that we are "in love with God" but nobody around us knows that.  They don't see any silly grin on our face, or joy in our walk, or excitement in our speech or a relentless need to tell everyone we meet about Him.

I loved the part in the book where Francis reminds us of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus tells us to go and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in his name and teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded.  That's it.  That's our task.  But Francis says, "it seems that most Christians live as though the next line in Matthew would be, unless of course that is asking a bit to much, if so, then it's OK to live a lukewarm life and not tell others about me, it's fine, you still get into heaven."  Is that how you live your life?  Is that how you feel about God's love towards you?  Do you think that living for Jesus is a bit to hard and so you want to water it down and just do the best you can and believe that it is enough to get you into heaven?

Francis further states, "Lukewarm living and claiming Christ's name simultaneously is utterly disgusting to God.  And when we are honest, we have to admit that it isn't very fulfilling or joyful to us, either."  What a profound statement.  Our lukewarm living is utterly disgusting to God.  When you make it to heaven do you want to hear from God, "Welcome to heaven, oh by the way I found the way you lived your life disgusting!"  How ashamed would you be to hear that?  If so, then why do we live that way?

God's response to this idea of lukewarm living came in the book of Revelation in Chapter 3 when he was addressing the church at Laodicea.  He called them lukewarm but said to them, "Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."  Francis in response to this verse writes, "His counsel wasn't to 'try harder' but rather to let Him in.  As James wrote, 'Come near to God and he will come near to you."  God wants to abide with us and wants us to abide in Him.  Jesus wants to be able to introduce us to the Father and say, this is one of my faithful servants, the job he did was well done.

The whole book, "Crazy Love" is filled with concepts, statements and Scripture that reminds us of our first love, that of our love for God and how we should live our lives in response to that first love.

You will be challenged to readdress your love relationship with Jesus Christ and to honestly evaluate whether your relationship has grown lukewarm and thus disgusting to God.  Remember the Lord said, I would rather that you be hot or cold, not lukewarm.  My suggestion is that you take another look at your life and determine to live it as one who is on 'fire' for the Lord and thus 'hot' rather than to be dull, boring and lukewarm about your relationship with your Savior.

I highly recommend this book to everyone.
Enjoy!

Ephesians (Reformed Expository Commentary) by Bryan Chapell

Dr. Bryan Chapell presents us with a wonderful commentary on the book of Ephesians. In a very readable way he will bring to the forefront the truth of the Mystery of the Gospel as revealed by the Apostle Paul in this text. That mystery is that the Gospel was not just for the chosen people of Israel but that it was also for the Gentiles and now the Gentiles are adopted sons into the family of God along with the children of Abraham. 

Many themes are addressed, but the main theme is that Paul the Apostle was "chosen" by God to bring the Gospel to the Gentile world. This would no doubt confound the Jews of his day, whom he was excelling in becoming one of the most honored of their intellectuals. At least he was until the road to Damascus where the Lord confronted Paul, converted him to Christianity and instilled in him a drive to bring the Gospel to everyone he met, Jew or Gentile. 

Dr. Chapell preached this series of sermons and then worked to put them in a commentary form so that we could further enjoy the study and time that he put in to learning about Paul, the Ephesians and the message. As I said earlier this text is very readable by both pastoral staff and lay people. If you are working to prepare a series of lessons for you Adult Sunday School class, or youth or even for a preaching series this book will be wonderful addition to you readings on the book of Ephesians. Of course spend most your time in the word and in prayer allowing the Holy Spirit to teach you, but then you can turn to Dr. Chapell's work and feel as though a dear friend has just guided you through a clear explanation of the book. 

I very much appreciated Dr. Chapell's way of explaining to us the love that Paul has for the Lord and for his work of bringing the Gospel. In Chapter three Paul affirms that he is a 'prisoner' of Jesus Christ. In reality he was in a Roman jail. But the truth was he was in prison only because he was defending the word of the Lord. Paul was happy in all circumstances, whether in a town where he was being beaten for his message, or in a shipwreck or in a jail. In all these places Paul is comfortable and understands he is there to serve the Lord. 

So while in this Roman prison he sits down and writes a letter to the churches in the area of Ephesus. He wants to remind them of their faith, remind them of their need to serve the Lord and remind them that Jew and Gentile alike are all one now in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

If you have to decide on where to spend your money for a commentary on Ephesians this is a great place to start. It is more of a devotional / communication style commentary than a deep theological dig into every word and look at the original languages type of commentary. As such it is useful for everyone. Even if you aren't going to teach a series on Ephesians you would be blessed to use this book as part of your devotional time to just learn more about the background of the letter that Paul wrote to the Ephesians. 

Thank you Dr. Chapell for a great collection of thoughts and insights. 

Enjoy!