JOYFUL CALVINISM IS THE ONLY KIND OF CALVINISM

reinke

Tony Reinke. The Joy Project. Minneapolis: Desiring God, 2015. 122 pp. $8.99

Every human being searches for happiness. No one is exempt. The Creator of the universe has hardwired human beings to be joyful. Tony Reinke makes this argument the centerpiece of his excellent book, The Joy Project. The thesis is simple and breathtakingly profound: “Making glad worshipers out of spiritually dead sinners is the grand design of God’s Joy Project.”

Reinke’s undergirds his thesis by making a case for historic Calvinism. He refers readers back to the Synod of Dort where the doctrines of grace were systematically spelled out by our theological forefathers. What grew out of the Synod was the well-known acronym, TULIP. The author puts the five points of Calvinism on display in vivid terms:

  • TOTAL DEPRAVITY is not just badness, but blindness to beauty and deadness to joy.
  • UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION is how God planned before we existed to complete our joy in Christ.
  • LIMITED ATONEMENT is the assurance that indestructible joy in God is infallibly secured for us by the blood of Jesus.
  • IRRESISTIBLE GRACE is the sovereign commitment of God to make sure we hold on to superior delights instead of the false pleasures that will ultimately destroy us.
  • PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS is the almighty work of God to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of pleasures at God’s right hand forever.

The author proclaims, “Our eternal joy will flourish when we are the objects of God’s sovereign grace. So the remainder of the book is devoted to unpacking the doctrines of grace (otherwise known as the five points of Calvinism). Critiques of Reformed theology will no doubt be drawn to Reinke’s winsome approach, an approach which is drowning in grace and Christ-saturated joy. Folks who are already convinced of Reformed theology will walk away with warmed hearts and drawn to the heart of the Savior.

The Joy Project could be viewed in many ways as the cliff notes for John Piper’s best-selling book, Desiring God. Tony Reinke should be commended for articulating the doctrines of grace in such a creative way, without losing any doctrinal punch. I recommend The Joy Project to anyone ready to be captivated by sovereign grace.  Readers will certainly discover that joyful Calvinism is the only kind of Calvinism.

Download a free version of this book at [http://www.desiringgod.org/books/the-joy-project]

4.5 stars

Is Jesus Truly God? – Greg Lanier

Greg Lanier, Is Jesus Truly God? (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2020), 144 pp.

The topic of Christ’s deity has been a hot topic for over two thousand years. Christ’s divine nature has been debated in church history and affirmed in the ecumenical councils. In our day, the deity of Christ is a hotly debated subject that occupies the attention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Muslims. Each group denies the biblical teaching that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.

Greg Lanier’s book, Is Jesus Truly God? wrestles with this important issue. The author presents a robust, biblically-charged Christology that focuses on six major issues:

  1. The preexistence of Jesus.
  2. The Sonship of Jesus.
  3. The Old Testament assertion of Christ’s deity.
  4. Worship ascribed to Jesus.
  5. The relationship of Jesus to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
  6. Jesus as theos.

Each of the six issues noted above is set forth in a chapter where the author affirms the divinity of Christ in a winsome and understandable way.

The great strength of Lanier’s book is its brevity. The arguments are tight, clear, succinct, biblical, and even devotional.

Readers who dig deeply into Dr. Lanier’s book will be challenged, informed, and refreshed. They will also be better prepared for their next encounter with a Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, or Muslim.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.

Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Planation

Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation by Candace Owens will irritate and offend many people. But this is a book that needed to be written. More importantly, this is a book that deserves to be read and internalized.

Owens explores how liberals have consistently manipulated and marginalized black Americans. She tackles controversial subjects ranging from family, faith, and feminism. But she also focuses her attention on socialism, education, media, culture, and slavery.

Owens is an unashamed black conservative woman. She has a dizzying intellect and a charismatic personality. But the most impressive thing about Owens is that she is bold and courageous. She is willing to tell the truth about the liberal elites and is more than prepared for the fallout.

The author is deeply in touch with the plight of the black community. And she links that plight to the purposeful ploy of leftists who have and continue to pander to blacks and hold them captive to their liberal worldview and ideology.

Owens passionately encourages black America to stand and be counted. She urges black America to make its second escape from the Democrat plantation: “If black America finds its free voice; if there is a blackout from the liberal establishment, and if the occasional voices of those freed from the mental slavery of the left turn instead into a chorus, then black America will finally find that its suffering may turn a corner …”

Owens raises the banner and admonishes black America to reclaim their freedom and move forward with bold and courageous resolve:

The gates of the castle are under attack. We must now batter them down and storm the fortress of the liberal order. Join the ideological battle now. Let us turn the lights off in the liberal establishments of America as we shut the door behind us. Let us make this blackout a reality.

Blackout should be required reading for every thinking American – both black and white and everyone in between. It should certainly be read by every high school and university student. Those who read with an open mind will be challenged and moved to action.

Thanks to Candace Owens for courageously wielding the sword of truth in these perilous times!

He is There and He is Not Silent- Francis Schaeffer (1972)

I first read He is There and He is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer in 1992.  Multiple readings have ensued and I turn back to Schaeffer’s book again and again for help with apologetics. Readers will be pleased to see this new edition by Crossway Books with a revised cover in time to meet the current needs of our time.

Schaeffer argues for three basic areas of philosophical thought: metaphysics (being or existence), morals (the dilemma of man), and epistemology (the problem of knowing). Philosophy and religion are essentially devoted to the same questions, namely, metaphysics, morals, and epistemology.

Philosophy is concerned with either an academic subject or a person’s worldview.  It is the later, that Schaeffer is concerned with in this volume.  Schaeffer contends that every man is a philosopher of sorts because it is impossible for humans to live without a worldview.

Metaphysics

There are three basic answers to the question of metaphysics.  The first answer is that “everything that exists has come out of absolutely nothing.”  Naturalism’s answer suggests no energy, no mass, no motion, and no personality.  This answer is, as Schaeffer calls it, “nothing, nothing.”

The second answer is that everything had an impersonal beginning.  This answer leads automatically to reductionism.  “Beginning with the impersonal must be explained in terms of the impersonal plus time plus chance,” writes Schaeffer.  This answer poses many problems.  But the two primary problems fail to answer the major philosophical question: the need for unity and the need for diversity.

The third answer is the biblical answer.  The third answer is the only rational and satisfying answer.  This answer suggests that we must begin with a personal beginning.  And to have an adequate answer of a personal beginning, one must have a personal infinite God, and personal unity and diversity in God (found the holy Trinity).

Schaeffer concludes: “The reason we have the metaphysical answer is because the infinite-personal God, the full Trinitarian God is there and he is not silent.”

Morals

There are only two basic answers to the question of morals.  The first: Everything had an impersonal beginning.  The is the answer of atheism.  Schaeffer never minces words.  He writes, “Beginning with the impersonal, there is no explanation for the complexity of the universe or the personality of man.”  When one begins with the impersonal, one eliminates the possibility of morals or ethics.

The second answer is the biblical reality of a personal beginning.  Man was created by an infinite-personal God.  Man sinned or “made a decision to change himself” as Schaeffer notes.

“The starting point,” writes Schaeffer “to the answer (of the question of morals) as with metaphysics is the fact that God is there and he is not silent.”

Epistemology

Schaeffer concludes by setting forth the problem concerning epistemology and the epistemological answer.

The epistemological problem concerns the tension between nature (particulars) and grace (universals).  When nature becomes autonomous, the universal is lost with the hope of giving the particulars meaning.  The problem is that when nature becomes autonomous, nature “eats up” grace.  Schaeffer argues that when we are left with only particulars, we become lost in the areas of metaphysics, morality, and epistemology.

The epistemological answer was summarized by the Reformers.  The Reformers did not allow for a dichotomy between nature and grace.  The reason: they had verbal propositional revelation.  The Reformers were vocal about the reality of God’s existence and the reality of his revelation.  Schaeffer popularized this view in the title of his book, He is There and He is Not Silent.  God has spoken truly about himself.  However, he has not spoken exhaustively about himself.

Schaeffer urges readers to come face to face with two gigantic presuppositions – “the uniformity of natural causes in a closed system and the uniformity of natural causes in an open system and in a limited time span.”  Ultimately, readers must determine which worldview fits with the facts.

Schaeffer summarizes, then, the basic presuppositions in historic Christianity.

1. God is there.

2. God is the infinite-personal God who has made man in his image.

3. God made man a verbalizer in the area of propositions in his horizontal communications with other men.

4. God communicates to us on the basis of propositions, viz, he is there and his is not silent.

Schaeffer maintains, “Under the unity of the apex of the infinite-personal God, in all of these areas we can have meaning, we can have reality, and we can have beauty.”

He is There and He is Not Silent is an essential work of apologetics.  It should be required reading for every Bible College/Seminary student.  Schaeffer put his finger on the essential issues of the day – even in the early 70’s and especially in our day.

Center Church – Tim Keller

I have been reading books about the church for almost thirty years now. Most of the best material is being churned out by Mark Dever and the boys at 9Marks. Tim Keller’s, Center Church is a welcome guest in the growing list of books on ecclesiology.

Dr. Keller sets out to communicate one central message which is summed up in the subtitle: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City. Center Church is encyclopedic in nature. It covers every subject conceivable and is a helpful tool in every pastors prospective tool chest.

The discussion about gospel contextualization (chapter 7) is deeply encouraging and highly instructive. The author notes, “Contextualization is not – as is often argued – ‘giving people what they want to hear.’ Rather, it is giving people the Bible’s answers, which they may not at all want to hear, to questions about life that people in their particular time and place are asking, in language and forms they can comprehend, and through appeals and arguments with force they can feel, even if they reject them..”

Keller warns against the temptation to use contextualization as a clever means of compromise (which I find many pastors doing). He adds, “The call to contextualize the gospel has been – and still often is – used as a cover for religious syncretism. This means not adapting the gospel to a particular culture, but rather surrendering the gospel entirely and morphing Christianity into a different religion by over adapting it to an alien worldview.”

Center Church is packed with helpful instruction on doing gospel ministry in the city. It is a long read but worth plodding through for the treasures along the way.

Highly recommended for pastors who love the gospel!

Born Again This Way – Rachel Gilson

Rachel Gilson, Born Again This Way: Coming Out, Coming to Faith, and What Comes Next? (The Good Book Company, 2020), 146 pp.

The LGBT airwaves are filled with opinions and books are being written from every angle – both conservative and liberal. Rachel Gilson adds her voice in her most recent book, Born Again This Way. What makes Gilson’s book refreshing is that she approaches the subject with biblical faithfulness and sensitivity. As one who formerly identified in the LGBT community, the author has much to say by way of experience and offers counsel to anyone who needs help with this controversial subject.

The writing in Born Again This Way is conversational in tone, gracious in spirit, and filled with a wealth of counsel that is grounded in sacred Scripture and the Christian worldview. Gilson does not come across as preaching or dogmatic but she makes her points clear from start to finish. She is honest about her struggles and offers hope and grace to anyone who will listen. Her voice is much-needed in a climate that tends to generate more heat than light.

There is no compromise here. Gilson never “sells the ranch” to gain a hearing from the LGBT community. But her style is down to earth and winsome. Such an approach is bound to draw people from all persuasions to join in the conversation.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.

The Gathering Storm – Albert Mohler

R. Albert Mohler, The Gathering Storm (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2020), 223 pp.

The postmodern clouds loom large over our heads. What Francis Schaeffer anticipated in the sixties and seventies in now upon us – in full force. What was once suspected has now arrived. The full force of secularism has invaded our culture and is wreaking havoc in the church.

Dr. R. Albert Mohler addresses the theme of secularism, culture, and the church in his latest book, The Gathering Storm. Each chapter sounds a warning cry to followers of Jesus Christ as the author demonstrates how secular humanism has managed to essentially “dechristianize the culture.” I As Francis Schaeffer once wisely noted, “The tragedy of our situation today is that men and women are being fundamentally affected by the new way of looking at truth, and yet they have never even analyzed the drift which has taken place.”1 Over and over, Mohler demonstrates the radical nature of this seismic shift.

The central theme of the book is that the storm is real and unavoidable. In the eye of the storm lie several key issues – the sanctity of life, marriage and family, and matters that pertain to gender and sexuality. Ignoring the storm will not alter the forecast. Evangelicals, then, must refuse to plant their heads in the ground like the proverbial ostrich.

While the storm is alarming, Dr. Mohler is quick to leave his readers with hope: “The one true God is Lord over history, and he has now called Christians in this generation into the storm.” Anything less would be cowardly and unfaithful to God and his gospel. I commend The Gathering Storm to followers of Christ and also challenge them to pay careful attention to Al Mohler keen insight in this area.

  1. Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who is There (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1982 reprint), 5. ↩

An Introduction to John Owen – Crawford Gribben

Crawford Gribben, An Introduction to John Owen: A Christian Vision for Every Stage of Life (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2020), 190 pp.

John Owen is arguably one of the most influential Puritan writers and should likewise be considered one of the most formidable Christian thinkers in the history of the church. Crawford Gribben sets out to explore the life and ministry of this important man in his book, An Introduction to John Owen: A Christian Vision for Every Stage of Life.

A few short words in the preface nicely captures the core of the book:

For Owen, spiritual life was about increasing in grace and goodness, in fellowship with each person of the Trinity, in the local and visible, catholic and invisible fellowship of the church, in the context of an often hostile world … The good life would be enabled by divine grace and would extend that grace to others.

The author sets the tone in a stirring introduction that alerts readers to the high points of Owen’s life. Owen is presented as one who was reared in a politically charged environment. A serious man by nature, Owen is prepared for a life of scholarship and ministry. He possessed a stunning intellect but also may have battled depression – along with a host of other Puritan pastors of his generation.

A fascinating feature of Owen’s life includes living through the Great Plague (1665-1666) and the Great Fire (1666). The author presents Owen as one who continues to work, write, serve, and minister – even in the midst of the fiery storm.

The remainder of the book builds upon this grand theme of living the Christian life to the glory of God. Four basic headings guide readers through Owen’s life including his childhood, youth, middle age, and death, and the afterlife. Key works of Owen are mentioned briefly and highlights of his ministry are spelled out.

Overall, Gribben’s work is solid and informative. Students who are not familiar with John Owen will benefit greatly from reading this book. But longtime admirers of Owen will also be encouraged.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.

Lead: Twelve Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church – Paul David Tripp

Paul David Tripp, Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2020), 225 pp.

Paul David Tripp has a special way of delivering a series of “gut-punches” to his readers. These deliberate blows are never meant to harm. Rather, the blows he delivers are meant to build up, encourage, and equip. Such is the case in his new book, Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church.

Dr. Tripp’s goal is to “propose a positive character model for local church or ministry leadership.” So he invites readers into the boxing ring for twelve rounds. Each round is focused on a particular subject that is ultimately informed by the gospel. The author writes, “The gospel, which is our hope in life and death, also sets the agenda for how we live, relate, and lead the ‘already’ of our conversation and the ‘not yet’ of our final home going.”

“Remember that the gospel of God’s grace teaches us that lasting change of heart and hands always takes place in the context of relationship, first with God and then with the people of God,” writes Tripp. This heart and passion beats throughout the book as the author relentlessly brings struggling readers back to their first love and a better understanding of the gospel.

The author writes as a churchman, a pastor, a theologian, and a biblical counselor. But he also writes as a fellow-pilgrim. He never throws “punches” from the cheap seats. Dr. Tripp is quick to admit his own weaknesses, hidden motivations, and sin. He along with all people desperately needs the gospel.

I challenge readers to enter the ring. Be prepared for a stringent workout. Be prepared for a few timely punches. When the final bell rings, you will be glad you took the challenge. And you will be better prepared and equipped to enter the real-life world of ministry.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.

When the Stars Disappear – Mark Talbot

Mark Talbot, When the Stars Disappear (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2020), 128 pp.

Several years ago, I was introduced to the writing of Dr. Mark Talbot. His sharp intellect and warm heart instantly grabbed my attention. Talbot is well-known for his writing on the subject of pain and suffering. As one who was partially paralyzed in his teens, Talbot is uniquely qualified to address the subject. He not only sympathizes with fellow suffers; he has the biblical background and experience to offer counsel that is meaningful and God-honoring.

Sometimes one sentence makes a book worth reading. Such is the case with Mark Talbot’s book, When the Stars Disappear. This is no way detracts from the rest of the book. Indeed, the book is filled with biblical wisdom and encouragement for people who are experiencing a season of suffering.

When the Stars Disappear is the first installment in a series of four books, which are appropriately titled, “Suffering and the Christian Life.” The first volume attempts to show readers that suffering is not only a part of God’s plan for his people; it is a gracious gift, which is to be received in faith.

Talbot utilizes the painful stories of Naomi, Job, and Jeremiah to illustrate the central thesis of the book. He paints a realistic portrait of these characters who struggle with suffering and struggle with a God who allows and ordains it.

The great strength of this book is a biblical perspective that leads readers to a gracious God who is eager for people to draw near in faith and communion. That leads us to the sentence that captured my attention:

“Biblical faith and hope are grounded in God’s self-revelation that – no matter how dark and hopeless life may now seem – his saints will ultimately know him as ’the God of chesed,’ for that is indeed his name.”

The author helps us understand how God is accomplishing good in the lives of his people, even in the midst of pain and suffering. “Believing that this is what God has in store for us,” Talbot writes, “is essential to Christian faith.” He continues, “God’s apparent delay in fulfilling his promises refines our hopes. We lift our heads and see God’s eschatological rewards from afar as our earthly hopes die. Our suffering inclines us to reorient our hopes toward the consummation.”

In the end, our gaze is set upon a Savior who promises to make all things new. Dr. Talbot’s warm-hearted biblical perspective is a welcome gift that is sure to be received with open arms by many. I look forward with great anticipation to the remaining volumes in this soul-stirring series.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.