Musings of a Former Fundamentalist (IFB) Renewed by Reformed Theology
This is a powerful video clip. It testifies to the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Watch and be moved to worship, thanks, praise and joy. [HT: Shaun Tabatt]
[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.780035&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]
Authors: C.J. Mahaney (editor), and others
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 191
Publisher: Crossway
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 1433502801
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Any book entitled Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World promises not to be your average book on the shelf of today’s Christian bookstore. The subject of worldliness, or love for the values of this fallen world, is not a popular theme.
The contributors of this book, start off by asking if 1 John 2:15 [“Do not love the world or anything in the world”], is really in most Christian’s Bibles. All of us are guilty of worldliness. But how do we go about avoiding this sin? C.J. Mahaney explains:
Some people try to define worldliness as living outside a specific set of rules or conservative standards. If you listen to music with a certain beat, dress in fashionable clothes, watch movies with a certain rating…surely you must be worldly.
Others, irritated and repulsed by rules that seem arbitrary, react to definitions of worldliness, assuming it’s impossible to define. Or they think legalism will inevitably be the result, so we shouldn’t even try.
…Both views are wrong. For by focusing exclusively on externals or dismissing the importance of externals, we’ve missed the point…. the real location of worldliness is internal. It resides in our hearts. (29)
The book goes on to try to navigate between these two extremes and call today’s church to a healthy carefulness about how we interact with the world at large. With chapters on movies, music, money and modesty, the book aims to guide believers as they think critically about the myriad of choices facing us in today’s culture.
As one who came out of a very strict fundamentalist background, this book especially interested me. I was encouraged to see contemporary evangelical Christians warning about the social dangers that abound. And I noted that the book did not offer a list of rules which I should follow more closely than Scripture. Instead the authors were careful to encourage discernment and teach general guiding principles.
To some the book will seem quite strict. Think “radical”, instead. The authors aim to glorify God in everything they do. That will come across as totally radical, and will require a unique focus on the temptations and opportunities that surround us.
While the discussion on media (movies) and music was quite good, the chapter on money and modesty wasn’t quite as captivating for me. I’d heard a lot of Mahaney’s stuff on modesty before, so maybe that’s why. But any lull in those chapters was more than made up by Mahaney’s opening chapter and the closing one by Jeff Purswell.
That final chapter focused on how to love the world. We are to love God’s creation and the people He has made. We are placed within His world and called to serve for its good. Perhaps since externals were over emphasized in my fundamentalist roots, this chapter on healthy interaction with the world resonated with me so well. In any case, Purswell paints a glorious picture of God’s covenant dealings with all the earth.
Moving from God’s overarching redemption plan, he elevates our mundane day-to-day duties as part of that plan. He closes his section on work with this appeal:
So don’t just “go to work” and “do your job”–see your job as a way to imitate God, serve God, and love others. This doesn’t mean work will never be difficult or frustrating or tedious; the curse ensures that it will be at times. But God’s creational purposes and Christ’s redeeming work infuse our work with meaning, and promise God-glorifying fruit as a result. (158)
Purswell calls us to enjoy, engage and evangelize the world. “We receive God’s earthly gifts, pursue God’s purposes in earthly life, and work for the salvation of people made in God’s image. All of life lived for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31)”.
The final chapter exposes the tension once again. While we are to be in the world and working for its good, we are also not to love what it loves and prize what it prizes. Once again, the book stresses two bents which typify Christians:
Some have strictly spiritual preoccupations. For them the present is of little consequence, pleasures are perilous, spirituality means self-denial…
Others relish life in this world. Their delight in God’s temporal gifts is unrestrained, their enjoyment of their physical existence untempered, their hope in earthly endeavors absolute…. (168-169)
The answer finally is the cross of Christ. The cross tells us who we are, interprets the world we live in, transforms our view of people and gives our lives purpose. Finding our place in God’s story of redemption is the ultimate cure for a love of this world’s desires.
This book has the potential to transform your view of the Christian life. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Disclaimer: This book was provided by Crossway Books. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.
This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Amazon.com or direct from Crossway.
I am currently reading Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures by Dennis E. Johnson. The good folks at Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing kindly supplied me with a review copy.
In a chapter contrasting different approaches to preaching, Johnson picks Tim Keller’s preaching style as exemplary of his ideal view. What distinguishes that style is primarily that the gospel is preached to both saved and unsaved alike in the congregation. Johnson describes this view as follows:
What both the unbeliever and the believer need to hear in preaching is the gospel, with its implications for a life lived in confident gratitude in response to amazing grace. Christians are constantly tempted to relapse into legalistic attitudes in their pursuit of sanctification…. We need to repent not only of our sins but also of our righteousness–our efforts at self-atonement in lieu of surrender to the all-sufficient grace of Christ.
Johnson then points out that Keller traces his discover of the need of “two-fold repentance” to George Whitefield’s sermon, “The Method of Grace”. In the footnotes, Johnson provides the following quote from that sermon. This is the quote that arrested me and I pray will impact you as well.
When a poor soul is somewhat awakened by the terrors of the Lord, then the poor creature, being born under the covenant of works, flies directly to a covenant of works again. And as Adam and Eve hid themselves… and sewed fig leaves… so the poor sinner, when awakened, flies to his duties and to his performances, to hide himself from God, and goes to patch up a righteousness of his own. Says he, I will be mighty good now–I will reform–I will do all I can; and then certainly Jesus Christ will have mercy on me.
I found Whitefield’s sermon available online here. If you have some time, you may be blessed by reading the entire sermon.
To get your own copy of this great book on redemptive-historical, gospel-centered preaching, compare prices at Amazon.com with the Christian bookseller Westminster Bookstore. The quotes above are from pages 55-57 of my copy.
When I came across Alex Chediak’s post on Michael Horton’s new book: Christless Christianity, I had to wonder if this is not primarily to blame for Ray Boltz’s fall. In so many ways, American Christianity has become a man-centered mess. I started (not sure if I totally finished it) a series on this issue in the past, you can find my last post here (which links to all the posts in the series).
Look to my Vodpod widget on my sidebar and watch the 5 minute video clip of Horton explaining why he thinks American Christianity has become Christless. This is a book that’s now at the top of my wish list!
This news shocked me. But I really appreciate Fred Butler’s assessment on this. It’s sad, as this reveals Boltz has sung about but very likely never truly embraced the Gospel. There is still hope for him. May God convict him. And may he wisen many of us up to the damning allure of sin.
If you don’t recognize his name, Boltz was a CCM singer who won numerous awards over the years. He’s most famous for his song “Thank you for giving to the Lord”.