Monthly Archives: May 2009

Book Review – Finally Alive (John Piper)

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Finally Alive is yet another recent publication from prolific pastor/author John Piper. Not only is he prolific, but passionate. In all his writing there is an intense seriousness and earnestness. Don’t expect a book of jokes to liven up your sermons from Piper any time soon!

In this book he seeks to explain the doctrine of the new birth, or regeneration. What does it mean to be born again? Piper notes that recent Barna research claims that born again Christians are not living any differently from the world. He takes issue with his use of the phrase “born again”. He contends that the New Testament has absolute certainty that the new birth radically changes people. If we are not changed, what evidence is there that we have new life? The book is broken into five major sections. I will summarise his argument briefly, before giving some concluding thoughts:

What is the new birth?

The new birth is God’s work, not ours. It is not the improvement of your old human nature, but the creation of a new human nature. You are still you, but new. The born again are born of “water and Spirit”, signifying the cleansing of the old, and the creation of the new. Because we are still ourselves, cleansing and forgiveness is necessary. But to be transformed, we must also become new.

Why must we be born again?

In short we were dead, spiritually lifeless. This means we love darkness and hate light, we are hard-hearted, cannot submit to God or accept the gospel, we are slaves to sin and slaves of Satan. Repentance is necessary, through which we are awakened to see the ugliness and danger of sin, and the beauty and worth of Christ. In the new birth, we become alive – our faith is awakened, we are justified, we become legal heirs and spiritual children, we love others and enjoy eternal fellowship with God. Because of the new birth, our final perfection is secured. The new birth produces the fight for purity.

How does the new birth come about?

We can’t make it happen – we need the sovereign grace of God. The new birth will happen to all creation, not just to human beings. Our activity in the new birth is faith in Christ, but it is God’s prior act of begetting that causes our believing. We come to faith through hearing and believing intelligible good news.

What are the effects of the new birth?

The book of 1 John gives many evidences of the new birth. We are not perfect, but we walk in the light. The commands of God are not burdensome to us, because we find obedience to them desirable. We overcome the world and this enables us to love God and others. The new birth sets us free from the practise of sinning. For the Christian, we should not allow the presence of ongoing sin to allow us to drift either into complacency or despair. If we are born again, we will love others with the love of God, because love is the nature of God, and our new nature too is to love.

How can we help others be born again?

It is God who opens blind eyes, but he sends us to tell people the gospel. However capable or inadequate we feel for this task, we must remember we are simply jars of clay, the treasure is the gospel. Several practical tips for evangelism are given, including the suggestion of giving away books.

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In terms of structure, this is a well put together book. The chapters are short, and broken nicely shorter sections of a few paragraphs with headings. He repeatedly summarises the argument so far and the direction he is going in. All this makes it very accessible even to those who want to read it in just five minute chunks.

As for its message, arguably there could be no more important doctrine for us to understand. It is full of Scripture, and the arguments are plainly presented. The conclusions he draws are hard to argue with, as they so plainly follow from the verses quoted. He makes extensive use of the gospel of John and 1 John.

I hope the legacy of this book will be a clearer understanding of the nature of the new birth. He also tackles the very important issue of how a Christian’s behaviour relates to the new birth. I believe he draws a biblical line of insisting that salvation is all of sovereign grace, that Christians are not yet perfect, but that there will always be evidence of the transforming work of the Spirit in the new birth, because the new birth is a reality, not merely a concept.

Book Review – More (Simon Ponsonby)

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This is Simon Ponsonby’s first book, published in 2004. I have also reviewed his more recent book on the Holy Spirit – God Inside Out.

In the early chapters he sets forth the desperate need for the church to seek a deeper, fuller, more intimate knowledge of God. He deals with various objections that might be raised against seeking more. These include the objection that at the cross we were given everything, and thus to ask for more is to claim it was not enough for us. Ponsonby argues that it is not more than the cross we need, but more ongoing reception of its benefits. He points out that Paul, while rejoicing in what is already ours in Christ, continually prays for more.

Similarly, one could object to seeking more of the Spirit by arguing that we have been already given the Spirit. But again, he goes to the Scriptures to show that we can have more of the Spirit, and he can have more of us.

That Paul can even make this command to be filled [Eph 5:18] implies that many believers are not. It is not to deny that they have the Holy Spirit, but simply to say that they could have more – or we might say that he could have more of them.

As well as theological objections, he deals with other blockages that stop us from seeking more of God. Often we have no expectation and no appetite. We shy away from yielding our lives fully. We need a holy discontent that drives us to seek more. This is not a mark of immaturity but maturity.

The desire for more of God is a sign of spiritual health. The mature want more.

He examines Pentecost and particularly emphasises that the Spirit empowers for evangelism. We must be prepared to go if we wish to be filled with the Spirit. So often the church is content with ministers who have theology degrees, when what it needs is to be a people filled with the Spirit’s power. We are urged to prepare for Pentecost through repentance, obedience, unity and prayer.

God is a promise-maker and a promise-keeper, but are we promise-seekers and promise-takers?

The person who would have more of God must give more to God. … Do you desire more of God? Then yield to him.

Chapter six deals with the potentially controversial issue of the “baptism in the Holy Spirit” (for my own take on this, see here). He makes it clear that he does not subscribe to a Pentecostal doctrine of a “once-for-all second blessing.” There should be a “constantly repeatable, deepening experience of God’s Spirit”. He emphasises God’s sovereignty in dealing with different people in different ways (a “tailor-made” experience of the Spirit). He moves on to examine all the texts that will be more than familiar to anyone who has worked through this debate before. Acts 8 he sees as an exception, and in Acts 19 he views the disciples of John the Baptist as not yet saved. He attempts to appease the Pentecostals by suggesting that they have the right experience despite the wrong doctrine!

Chapter seven tells his personal testimony which is a fascinating story of being brought up in a devout evangelical setting yet going away from God, and being drawn back to him and being filled with the Spirit.

The book is then rounded off by a chapter that deals with the issue of “wilderness”. In it he argues that the Spirit is given from the cross. He shows how many in the Bible met God in the wilderness, and offers some correctives to an overly triumphalistic understanding of the Spirit’s work.

The deep things of God are learned in the fiery furnace of the desert. It is here that he digs deep wells of his Spirit into our life.

Simon is great at filling his writing with memorable quotes and vivid illustrations. I can imagine that a couple of the chapters will seem a bit on the technical side for those who have not encountered some of the objections or alternative views he deals with. But the real value of this book is simply in the call to hunger for more intimacy with Christ. This is a message we cannot hear too often, and therefore I would highly commend it to anyone. Read it and be stirred afresh to seek God with all your heart.

Some Thoughts on ‘Treasure Hunts’

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A new form of evangelism known as “treasure hunting” has gained popularity in recent years, stemming I think from a book written on the subject (which I haven’t read). The basic idea is that you spend a while praying for words of knowledge concerning specific people (e.g. someone called Brian, someone with a green jumper, someone with a knee problem etc). Then simply go out on the street, looking for people who match those descriptions, strike up a conversation (“I’m looking for treasure, and I think you’re it” – great chat up line!), and then offer to pray for them. For an idea of what goes on, have a browse through Simon Holley’s blog archives.

I have heard many exciting testimonies of people receiving healing, gratefully receiving prayer, engaging in deep conversations about the gospel, and accepting invitation to come to church or Alpha courses. There is a group here in Southampton who are attempting this form of evangelism, and I am hoping that the cell group I lead will be able to join them on one of their next excursions.

I do have to confess to having a few reservations concerning this method of evangelism, which mostly stem from the understanding of a “word of knowledge”. Much of what passes for words of knowledge often seem to me to be nothing more than lucky guesses (in fact, too often guesses that miss the mark totally). The idea that any random thought that pops into my head should be uncritically accepted as God speaking strikes me as a sub-biblical understanding of prophecy.

But enough negativity already. This technique, though somewhat unconventional does have a few important things going for it.

First, on a very pragmatic level, it provides a conversation starter. There is nothing more likely to end a conversation than asking someone “do you mind if I tell you about Jesus?” The whole idea of a “treasure hunt” provides a way to break the ice with a stranger, and allows the conversation to naturally move on to spiritual matters.

Second, it encourages a reliance on the Spirit’s guidance. Even the most ardently non-charismatic groups I have done evangelism with have recognised the vital importance of being Spirit-filled in our witness. To pray for God to divinely guide us to those in whom his Spirit may already have been working in, as well as to trust him for the right words to say is surely the right way to begin any form of evangelism.

Third, it focuses not on apologetics, but on demonstration of God’s power. Important as apologetics certainly is – people do need to face and answer their questions concerning the truth of the gospel, often apologetics can be a red herring. A chance to pray with someone gives the opportunity for them to experience first hand the living God who hears and answers prayer.

Finally, it requires faith. The fear of looking foolish or getting it wrong holds many of us back from stepping out and telling others the gospel. Praying for someone in public is a risk – what if the prayer is not answered? What if they think you’re insane? And yet, it seems that so often God is pleased to act when his people have nowhere to hide, and have to trust him completely.

So it is not hard for me to see why God may indeed be blessing those who use this mode of evangelism. I tried to think of any examples of this being used in the New Testament. I suppose you could point to Jesus’ discussion with the woman at the well in John 4. Though his meeting with her was apparently a chance encounter, the supernatural revelations concerning her circumstances certainly opened her up to consider Jesus’ message.

Or Paul, who had a vision in the night of a man of Macedonia (Acts 16:9). He saw this as God’s leading to evangelise in that region and off he went. Interestingly, he doesn’t appear to have attempted to find the man he saw in the dream. When he got there, he took the strategic approach of searching for devout worshipers of God (Acts 16:13) as well as taking advantage of the chance encounter with the slave girl (Acts 16:16).

So while I am not wholeheartedly endorsing the technique of “treasure hunt” evangelism, I do want to be someone who is full of faith, following the Spirit’s lead, and seeing God’s power at work in changing lives as people hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I would be interested to hear of any readers who have done this, and what your thoughts and experiences were.