Religious tourists or lifestyle matyrs?

The term "religious tourists" left a deep impression on me and caused me to reflect on how sometimes our faith does not require much of a sacrifice or cost us anything. I'm not propagating a works-righteousness whereby we try to earn our salvation through good works, we receive it through acknowledging our sin and accepting Christ's atonement on our behalf.

What is scary for me is when I observe what kind of creature Christianity in a country with religious freedom may morph into. While the early Christians gave their witness with their lives, dying martyrs' deaths, today following Christ is trendy, popular and financially rewarding even (because of the extensive networking opportunities in church). It's a sobering thought to consider how many of us Christians will continue to pledge allegiance to Yahweh if there is a price to pay for our obedience. Even as we prosper in a tolerant society and government, it is so easy for us to slide into lifestyles contrary to what the bible tells us is demanded of us. 

Oh Lord, awake our souls to long for your rule and reign in our lives, such that we would be so joyfully used to following you in the good days, that when the bad days come, our faiths would be unwavering. Help us Holy Spirit to remind us of the great cost of Calvary and consider the Cross of Christ that we are to take up; give us the strength, discipline and joy to do so and to urge others to do likewise. Amen.


Hansen reflects on Phil 2:12 on page 171-2 of his PNTC commentary:

The Letter to the Philippians

The Letter to the Philippians has 30 ratings and 6 reviews. Dan said: Philippians, is an New Testament commentary, written by G. Walter Hansen and publis...

“It is this ‘long obedience in the same direction’ which the mood of the world does so much to discourage.” When the path of obedience to Christ becomes steep and dangerous, pleasure seekers look for an easier way. Religious tourists hunting for sensational entertainment, instantaneous enlightenment, and emotional excitement will jump on the newest rides and take quick shortcuts, but they will not be found with pilgrims on the long, hard road following in the footsteps of Christ, who was obedient to death—even death on a cross. Paul’s call to unflagging, Christ-like obedience will not be popular in a world that so highly values going fast and having fun and so quickly rejects enduring pain and submitting to authority. But the essential characteristic of the wise who build their community on Christ is their consistent obedience to him.

The mis-selling of a triumphalist Christianity

As I reflect on Carson's exposition on Pages 31-2, my heart breaks at how we have been m mis-selling Christianity to attract people to follow Christ and how far removed it has been removed from denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following him. If the premise at which one decides to become saved is to be as successful and high flying as a prominent Christian personality, then I am overwhelmed with worry at how such a believer will respond during times of trial and suffering. I shudder at this thought because I, once upon a time too, believed in a prosperity theology whereby my religion gave me the right to demand (through prayer) what God needed to give me or come through for me.

Oh Lord, forgive me for wrongfully presenting your gospel and making false promises to seekers on your behalf. Help us believers to communicate the perseverance and joy of submitting our wills to you, and to winsomely communicate a faithful understanding of how we relate to you to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Help us to love, minister to and journey with those of more humble and more elite backgrounds as us, and that we may point them to follow you, for the glory and praise of Jesus Christ I pray, amen!

The Cross and Christian Ministry

The Cross and Christian Ministry has 907 ratings and 73 reviews. Jordan said: Carson would say I totally missed the point of chapter three when I say I w...

This is a point that our generation cannot afford to ignore. Why is it that we constantly parade Christian athletes, media personalities, and pop singers? Why should we think that their opinions or their experiences of grace are of any more significance than those of any other believer? When we tell outsiders about people in our church, do we instantly think of the despised and the lowly who have become Christians, or do we love to impress people with the importance of the men and women who have become Christians? Modern Western evangelicalism is deeply infected with the virus of triumphalism, and the resulting illness destroys humility, minimizes grace, and offers far too much homage to the money and influence and "wisdom" of our day.

Review: The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians

The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians by D.A. Carson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Don Carson is my go-to guy when I'm looking to purchase NT commentaries (I consult his New Testament Commentary Survey) and I also enjoy listening to his expositional sermons. But why does this fanboy not give a 5 star rating? In short, the book was great but not exceptional.

While overall the content is classic Carson - relatively easy to follow, engaging, faithful to Scripture, thoroughly insightful and the stories/background explanations being ever so apt to illustrate archaic concepts - I felt that it would have been great for him to revise the content slightly. Being first published in 1993, the 2018 edition comes with a new cover but identical content. Carson would probably have been able to update a couple of illustrations or beef up the material with new nuggets of insight or a varied explanation to which he has since picked up... The lack of pictorial graphics or diagrams also make it a slight challenge to read for today's attention deficit readers.

The bite-sized expositions are still a great resource for sermon preparation and academic research, but I'll be sure to go to my digital edition rather than the print copy for easy cross-referencing to the biblical text!

I received this book from Baker Publishing Group's Blogger Review Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: God's New Society: The Message of Ephesians

God's New Society: The Message of Ephesians by John R.W. Stott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This commentary appears to deviate away from Stott’s usual high quality titles that are epitomised by clear exposition, engaging illustrations and deep theological reflection. Published in 1979, this book has blessed many generators of students, pastors and preachers prior to the publication of newer commentaries. An updating of the illustrations and language would be helpful in capturing the attention of modern readers and assisting in their comprehension of the biblical text. It would also be more useful if Stott transposed what he perceives to be poor translation choices against more popular modern translations such as the ESV, NLT or NIV – as compared to the older AV, RSV and NEB translations as found in the book. On the same note, the title’s age renders it unable to interact with modern scholarship that has since been published, and references are made to scholars whose names the present day reader would probably not be familiar with.

Before the advent of the excellent commentaries by Walter Liefeld's 1997 and Clinton Arnold's 2010 excellent commentaries utilise modern analogies and cite present world events. Liefeld’s IVPNTC commentary is superior in brevity and clarity – teachers and pastors would find it useful for lesson/sermon preparation. Arnold’s ZECNT commentary is superior in depth and theological reflection – advanced readers and scholars would find it useful. R Kent Hughes' 1990 title from the Preaching the Word Series is also superior exposition and has surpassed Stott’s title.

Amidst the book’s various issues, there are some timeless truths and reflections that are still relevant and helpful to reflect upon today. Looking back in time, this reviewer is heartened that in his exposition of Eph. 3:7, Stott extends grace to a movement he did not agree with or endorse, thereby effectively illustrating the point of the passage – that “the unity of the church is due to charis, God’s grace having reconciled us to himself; but the diversity of the church is due to charismata, God’s gifts distributed to church members”:

From this word charismata that the adjective ‘charismatic’ is derived. The so-called ‘charismatic movement’, although controversial in a number of its distinctive emphases, has without doubt been used by God to bring spiritual renewal to many churches and individual Christians. Nevertheless, we should register a biblical protest against the designation ‘charismatic movement’, whether its adherents themselves chose it or were given it. ‘Charismatic’ is not a term which can be accurately applied to any group or movement within the church, since according to the New Testament the whole church is a charismatic community. It is the body of Christ, every single member of which has a gift (charisma) to exercise or function to perform. (Pg. 155-6)

Furthermore, the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches today would do well to pay heed to and prevent much abuse from Stott’s timeless advice regarding God’s raising up of prophets and prophetesses (4:11) by “carefully test[ing] by Scripture and by the known character of the speaker, and that the regular, systematic, thoughtful exposition of the Bible is much more important for the building up of the people of God.” (Pg. 162-3).

This reviewer suggests that much of the abuse and misuse of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially regarding words of knowledge and ‘commands’ from church leaders, could be avoided if Holy Scripture is the lens by which all such words are examined by. A church would perhaps enjoy the best of the charismatic and reformed worlds – when they are fed a diet of faithful exposition of Scripture in the environment of expectant supernatural faith-expanding operation of the Holy Spirit in ministry of the lost and of the congregation.

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Review: Acts of the Holy Spirit

Acts of the Holy Spirit by C. Peter Wagner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having read numerous scholarly commentaries (that are often a challenge to read because they are toward the deep end of the technical spectrum), I found this gem of a book to be highly accessible and most engaging; through Wagner's passionate writing, I caught a sense of how exciting the high-stakes events in the book of Acts were. The real-world illustrations and examples provided brought to life the conceptual and the theological; providing the reader with a glimpse of how the Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers today.

However, I felt that the quality of the scholarship diminished toward the final chapters. Wagner clarifies that as these sections were not the focus of his commentary, he thus skips through the penultimate sections of the book of Acts with less emphasis and fewer comments. I understand that decision he made, because at about 600 pages this book is already relatively unappealing to most laypeople and pastors; it is a pity that 3 volume version of this title is out of print because the bite sized chunks provide for a far easier read. Finally, it would be of great value should Wagner release a revised edition whereby interaction is made with the numerous commentaries that have been published in the recent years - for example Darrell Bock's BECNT (2007), David Peterson's PNTC (2009), Eckhard Schnabel's ZECNT (2012) and of course Craig Keener's massive non-series 4 volume work (2012-2015).

Nevertheless, I regard this book to be a 5 star (out of 5) classic and a most valuable title that has more than earned its place on my bookshelf (books with 1 to 4 stars would be sold off/donated). I thoroughly enjoyed the read - so much so that I bought a copy to keep (the copy I read was borrowed). In conclusion, because of the highly engaging and accessible content, I heartily recommend this book to laypeople, church leaders and pastors for the purposes of inspiration, study and application of principles from the book of Acts.

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