Books
Meltdown - Making Sense of a Culture in Crisis
"I would very much like my own two children to read this! One is a university student; the other is in his last year of secondary education."
Don Carson in his foreword
"My hope and prayer is that Meltdown will be read and discussed by high school seniors in preparation for college, Christian university students and campus ministers, and by anyone who wants to make sense of the postmodern world and speak to it in the name of Jesus Christ..."
Douglas Groothuis in his afterword to the North American Edition
Finding Joy - A Radical Rediscovery of Grace
"This book is all about radical life-in-grace, and the joy that flows from that. An arresting and heart-warming read."
Rose Dowsett, International Conference and Training Minister, OMF International
"A extremely helpful look at an issue of fundamental importance to our faith. It's engaging, stimulating, liberating and deeply refreshing."
Tony Watkins, Managing Editor, CultureWatch
Extracts from Finding Joy
Extract from ... Chapter 3: From slavery to freedom
Legalism stinks! Trusting anything other than Christ to save us or to sanctify us is rubbish. That is the apostle Paul's conclusion in Philippians 3, as we saw at the end of the last chapter. It must have been a very tough conclusion for him. Before he became a Christian his works and his law-keeping consumed his entire life - his time, energy, passions, heart and mind. To realize that it had all been worthless and in contradiction to the good news of Jesus must have been mind-blowing. It is no wonder he was so opposed to legalism when it started to seep into the churches in Galatia. He knew from personal experience how poisonous it was. When the first whiff of it reached his nostrils, he knew there was a danger that people would start trusting works of law rather than Jesus, just as he had done for so many years.
The letter to the Galatians is a powerful antidote to a false gospel based on works. It shows this 'gospel' up for what it is. It is possible that what you have already read of the message of Galatians has made you uncomfortable with some of your own experience of Christian culture. Wherever we see behaviour, however good, being imposed on believers as a core gospel requirement, when the Bible doesn't, we are looking at legalism.
It can have many manifestations. When we dictate what is an acceptable instrument to play for worship in church and what isn't, and baptize our preferences by making them out to be biblical, that is legalism. When we require a dress code in church, and insist that Scripture agrees with us, that is performance-based legalism too. When we insist that all believers must speak in tongues or raise their hands (or not raise their hands and not speak in tongues!) we stand on the brink of legalism. When we maintain that New Testament believers must fulfil Old Testament law requirements, without considering how Jesus has fulfilled them, that is definitely legalism.
It is easy to do. We can even turn really good things into legalistic burdens. Take 'quiet times', for example. The idea of spending a portion of every day reading the Bible and praying has been a great help to Christians for generations. It is a very good thing to do. However, as soon as we imply that we must do it for our holiness, we have turned a great means of blessing into a contemporary equivalent of a work of the law. What was previously a means of grace and blessing and meeting with God has now become a requirement that must be fulfilled for us to have a subjective sense of being a good Christian, or for us to live up to other people's expectations.
A big gulp moment
I used to give spiritual support and guidance to a small group of students at a particular university Christian Union. They were witnessing on a challenging campus. I worked with the leaders to put together the ultimate programme of speakers and outreach. Good though our programme was, I started to get the feeling that people liked the programme and the teaching more than they loved the Lord. I enjoyed the fact that people liked the programme and it gave me a great sense of achievement. However, the longer we went on, the more I felt something was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but I noticed that while the group loved having training sessions on how to do evangelism, they didn't actually do very much of it. When they did, it was with reluctance and hesitation. They knew how, but they didn't want to.
Finally I was asked to do my umpteenth talk on evangelism for them. I began by asking, 'We all know each other well, and so would appreciate an honest answer to this question: When you do evangelism, why do you do it?'
There was a lengthy pause. At last the group said unanimously, 'Because you make us feel guilty when we don't. We feel like we let you down. We do it occasionally out of good form and because we know we should, but that's about it.'
It was one of those big gulp moments in my life. All of a sudden God put his finger on the spot and made me realize that for two years I had produced a programme that looked fantastic but was completely disconnected from what was going on in the hearts of the students. Or more exactly, what wasn't going on in their hearts. I had tried to make them conform to my expectations, but had neglected nurturing their souls. There was no grace in that situation, only legalism. And, of course, on the few occasions when they did share about the gospel, it was likely to seem insincere or unappetizing to non-believers, because it was coming from grudging obligation rather than hearts saturated with grace and joy. ...
Extract from ... Chapter 7: Rejoice in the benefits of Christ
The fundamental assumption of this book is that Jesus Christ is the centre of all things. The Bible says that God the Father has raised him from the dead, seated him in the place of power and authority over creation and declared that every knee will bow in homage and recognition before him. The Father rejoices and delights in the Son.
However, the Bible takes an utterly remarkable further step. We find it explained in Ephesians 1:22:
And God placed all things under his (Jesus') feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything in every way.
(Ephesians 1:22 emphasis mine)
It is an astonishing verse. Follow the logic of it. God has made all things subject to Christ. Jesus is the conquering victor and ruler of everything. That is the strength of 'all things' being placed under his feet. The Father decreed, 'My Son is the head, the sovereign majesty, over all things.' But then he added, 'My Son will exercise that authority on behalf of the church, in order to bless it.'
To those who say church is boring, irrelevant or inconsequential in the Christian life we should reply, 'No! The church of Jesus Christ is glorious and holy. It is bought by his blood and engaged to the Lord. Despite all its faults, the church is the vessel into which God has poured his infinite kindness and the means by which he shows his grace to the world and the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). He is pouring out blessings of being united to Jesus, for the church to enjoy.'
The church is intimately united with Jesus. She is the body; he is the head. She is the bride; he is the bridegroom. He has died for us and we have died with him. He is our substitute, sacrifice, mediator, prophet, priest and king. So close is the relationship between Jesus and the church that the Bible says our life is now hidden with Christ in God. We are new creatures, with a new life, new fellowship, new motivation in the grace he has given us, and new priorities, of which the first is to glory in God.
God delights to bless
A group of young Christian leaders has met regularly for training in our house over several years. Recently one member was leaving the group. Before she left, she said to my wife, Ros, and me, 'I would like to come round for an afternoon and spend some time cleaning your house as a thank you for all I have received here (and for all the mess the team leave behind!).' We ran a whole gamut of emotions: She has spotted the house isn't clean! She probably thinks we are filthy! Oh no, we are going to have to say 'Yes' even though we are Brits who don't receive grace well! Then we asked why she wanted to do it. Her reply was wonderful: 'I know you aren't expecting anything, but I would like to do it just because I want to bless you. I've been thinking about how I can bless you and this seemed like a good, personal way.' She wanted to bless us just because she wanted to bless us. She was modelling grace to us. We were thrilled.
The Bible is full of lists of blessings God heaps on those who are united to Jesus Christ. Sometimes we can get a little suspicious of this because the world doesn't behave that way. In the world we get what we pay for and we work for less than we think we deserve. When offered something free and undeserved, we want to know if there is a hidden cost, or when the payback will be demanded. Sometimes we might have an inkling that God's blessings seem too good to be true.
Sometimes we can respond to grace out of a kind of inverted humility that says, 'I am not good enough to have you do that for me, so I couldn't receive your gift.'
But that is exactly what we mustn't do with God. The moment we say 'I'm not good enough, so I won't receive' or 'What is the cost of receiving this gift that I will pay back at a later time?' we fall straight into legalism. We don't receive the blessings as blessings, or the grace as grace, because deep down we think, 'God can't possibly act that way towards me.' If you think like that (and all of us do from time to time), here is a vital thing for you to remember and treasure: He does! He does it because you are in Christ. He delights in Christ and therefore he delights in you. He is pleased to do you good and to bless you, and it all rebounds to his glory as he is seen to be kind to sinners out of pure, free grace. ...