Captivated

Book review of Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus' Death and Resurrection, by Thabiti Anyabwile:

I recently read a simple yet profound little book by Thabiti Anyabwile, an African-American who pastors a church on Grand Cayman Island ("suffering for Jesus"!). I have followed his blog for a while, and was pleased to have an opportunity to read his new book. The book is based on a series of sermons he presented on the death and resurrection of Jesus. It has the limitations of a book translating oral sermons into written text, but is still one of the better examples of such books that I have ever read.

There were two chapters in the book in particular that stood out to me. Chapter 2 presents Psalm 22 as an in depth emotionally powerful presentation of what Jesus experienced for us in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross. I saw some things in that Psalm that I had never noticed or perceived before. Chapter 5 discussed the encounter with Jesus by two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. Anyabwile says that this story shows us that physical senses, knowing the historical facts about Jesus, and knowing the Bible are not enough for salvation without a personal revelation of Jesus to our hearts and souls. Thee two chapters alone would make this a good read.

In summary, this is not a great or classic book, but it is a good book, worth a read, to help us meditate on and be grateful for what Jesus accomplished for us on the Cross. It is well suited as an aid to meditation during the Lenten and Easter seasons.

A video trailer for the book is shown below.

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. -see my book review policy)

One Or The Other

Only One of These Can Be True 

1. Isaiah 53:

". . . he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him."

2. Hollywood:

Growing Together

HT: Augustine Facebook Page

Relief

From AnnVoskamp.com

Never Runs Out

"How amazing is it that God actually gives us himself. the infinate, glorious, spectacular, and altogether lovely God of the universe is all ours. We can exhaust money. We can exhaust sex. We can exhaust our jobs. But we can't exhaust God. He gives us the one thing that will never run out, never get old, and never fail: himself."

            -Jefferson Bethke, Jesus > Religion, page 105

Messed Up People

"....so let's be done with the comparison game. Let's be done with constantly fighting for the higher moral ground to stand on and look down on everyone else. Let's be done with thinking we can actually earn something that is impossible to earn. Let's stop trying to be perfect and righteous because those are not the people God is looking for. God is looking for people who can admit their needs and surrender to a Savior, because if the Bible is any indication, it doesn't matter how messed up you are.If you love him, he can and will use you."

            -Jefferson Bethke, Jesus > Religion, page 90

Dealing With Pain

This is a good and helpful article by John Starke at the Gospel Coalition on "3 Ways to Think About God and Pain":

A pastor quickly learns that if he stays at a church for even a short while, he'll consistently walk with people through pain. Suffering is never far away from a pastor. Through trial and error, he learns (some of us slowly) what to say and what not say. There are no pat answers. Formulas generally work only on paper, not on people.I have learned that shepherding people through suffering and pain takes more love than pastoral expertise, and often love comes with time. Many times I've been ready with an answer for a question someone didn't have. That's not love. Without speaking for other pastor-flunkies, that impulse usually comes from wanting to be the Savior of the their pain, rather than the one who shares in their pain.

But often the tough questions finally do come. Usually it's not when they first approach me. It's typically after I've been slow to speak, and they can sense my heart is broken with them. From my experience, when people come to pastors concerning their suffering and pain, they're coming with questions. However, those usually come after folks know their pastor loves them; he's slow to speak and quick to mourn with the mourning.

When the questions come, it's clear that not everyone goes through pain the same way. There's not one good answer for questions about God and suffering. People are complex, and so are God's ways. Our answers should reflect that reality.

Nevertheless, I have found three categories of thinking about God and pain that have been helpful as I talk with different people in my church who have been fired from work, learned of their wife's affair, lost their spouse, or endured infertility. These three different ways help us wrap our minds around Romans 8, which teaches that somehow God works all things—whether pain or joy, sword or comfort—for our good.

I say "category" because, again, there are no easy answers to pain. Each instance of pain is different, and each person faces it differently. So use these categories flexibly and with as much love and tenderness as possible.

Melted Hearts

Only when we turn away from looking at our sin to look at the face of God, to find his pardoning grace, do we begin to repent. Only by seeing that there is grace and forgiveness with him would we ever dare to repent and thus return to the fellowship and presence of the Father.… Only when grace appears on the horizon offering forgiveness will the sunshine of the love of God melt our hearts and draw us back to him. 

                 -Sinclair Ferugson in You Can Change

HT: Rick Ianniello, Of First Importance

A Heart Detached

“If we are deeply moved by the sight of his love for us, it detaches our hearts from other would-be saviors. We stop trying to redeem ourselves through our pursuits and relationships, because we are already redeemed. We stop trying to make others into saviors, because we have a Savior.”

— Tim Keller    Counterfeit Gods
(New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2009), 45

HT: Of First Importance

King Jesus

Found this good summary by Phillip Bethancourt at the Gospel Coalition about the relationship between Jesus and the Kingdom of God:

1. Jesus inaugurates the kingdom. With the coming of Christ, the kingdom begins not in the coronation of a mighty king but in the birth of a crying baby. Yet as Jesus' ministry begins in Mark, he announces, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). What Israel had long awaited, Christ had now inaugurated.

2. Jesus is the kingdom. Where the king is, there is the kingdom. This is precisely why Jesus says to the Pharisees, "The kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:21). As Graeme Goldsworthy teaches, Jesus embodies the kingdom motif of God's people in God's place under God's rule. Jesus is both the faithful ruler and the righteous citizen of the kingdom.

3. Jesus purposes the kingdom. Jesus reveals that his purpose is to proclaim the kingdom. Jesus described his mission saying that he "must preach the good news of the kingdom of God" (Luke 4:43).

4. Jesus declares the kingdom. Through his words, Jesus explains the kingdom and invites people to enter into it. Luke summarizes Jesus' ministry as "proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God" (Luke 8:1). The declaration of the kingdom often came through the parables of Jesus that illustrated what it was and how it worked.

5. Jesus demonstrates the kingdom. Through his works, Jesus shows the power of the kingdom and his authority over the prince of darkness. As Jesus explains, "If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Luke 11:20). Jesus not only declares the kingdom in his words but also demonstrates the kingdom in his works.