Although Jeremiah is one of the longest books in the Old Testament, this volume in the Bible Speaks Today series is comparatively short. At 176 pages including appendices, it means there are an average of 2 or 3 pages of comments per chapter of Jeremiah. Given its short length, I was a little surprised that they didn’t include a commentary on Lamentations in this volume as well.

The introduction sets the historical scene for us, and throughout the book, Kidner does a good job of keeping us up to date with where we are in the overall timeline. This is especially important for the book of Jeremiah, as it does not follow a straightforward chronological sequence. He then gives an overview of Jeremiah’s message. Occasionally he makes some very brief comments on how the prophetic words of warning apply to our own generation, but there is perhaps less of this than might be expected in an expository commentary series like BST.

If found helpful his setting of chapter 11 into its context of Josiah’s reading of the law. Similarly chapter 22 with its messages to different kings benefits from additional historical information. Kidner understands the passages speaking judgement on the nations as having an end times as well as historical fulfilment, although does not speculate on how this may occur. In chapter 51 he finds parallels with the sections in Revelation on the judgement of Babylon.

There are of course a number of places in Jeremiah, where the new covenant is in view. For example, chapter 30 looks forward to this time and even ahead to the new Jerusalem. I did feel however that some of the key passages (such as Jer 31:31-34) could have been dealt with in a bit more depth. As in his excellent commentary on Hosea, Kidner provides some useful appendices to help us fit the prophecies into the historical scene a bit better.

Overall, this volume of the BST will serve well as a devotional guide for those reading through the book of Jeremiah a chapter a day, especially if you struggle to make sense of the flow of the book. It might also provide some useful pointers to those preparing Bible studies, but its brevity means that other commentaries as well are likely to be needed.

This book is essentially a call for pastors to set up discipleship training programs in their churches. But before we consider the message of the book, there are some issues with its format. First, despite the slick graphic design on the front cover of this book, once you open the cover you notice that the type setting is far from professional with unevenly spaced letters. Secondly, despite managing to secure Rick Warren to write the preface, the book appears to be lacking a good editor. John Oak is Korean, and although is quite competent in English, there are a number of awkward sentences and odd turns of phrase. What’s more, at 350 pages, the book becomes quite repetitive after a while, and would probably have been better trimmed down to about 200 or less pages.

John Oak’s credentials are impressive. He has built a church of over 30,000 members in Korea, from just a handful of members. His passion is to see the laity equipped for service and growing to maturity though discipleship training. It is in his view the first and most important task of the pastor, and the key to a church growing, not just numerically, but in quality as well. He cautions that churches that focus only on witness will not be able to grow as fast or produce mature converts as their own laity are ineffective and immature. Similarly, churches that focus on Sunday worship can actually obstruct the creation of true worshippers. He argues that the passion in the New Testament is for creating disciples, and that the task of witness and calling of worship will flow naturally out of this. He sees Jesus as the ultimate example of someone who performed discipleship training.

So what does he mean by discipleship training? It is not Bible studies, or theological college. Nor is it simply small groups. Basically the pastor takes applications from up to 10 people who want to seriously commit themselves for a period of time (about a year). They meet on a weekly basis for prayer, studying the word and being accountable to one another. The regime is quite intense, and calls for great openness, willingness to be corrected and serious commitment to attendance. It is no wonder that he notes that some people drop out of the program and even find it oppressive, although they are in the minority. After completing discipleship training, they become lay leaders, and there are further similar programs for them to attend. No one in his church may serve if they are not willing to humble themselves to take this training, a fact which has kept many “business class” types away. The program is given high profile in the church, with special enrollment and graduation ceremonies as part of the Sunday meetings.

Despite the size of his church, John Oak sees the primary burden of this training as falling upon himself as the pastor. He spends a good deal of time setting out how a program of discipleship training should be introduced, starting with the leaders, and then openning it wider. The church as a whole should realise that this is vital to who they are. In the groups themselves, they use an “inductive” method of study, teaching people to learn for themselves and teach each other, rather than the trainer doing all the teaching. Through a discipleship training program, his church are at the place of having 10 percent as lay leaders. He says that though other churches may have a similar percentage of lay leaders, in most churches, those 10 percent have not all had much training.

He mentions almost in passing that those who are trained are able to step right into ministry opportunities waiting for them. They can do this, because they know how many people will be trained, and find the contexts in which they can serve. This is perhaps lesson worth learning for churches. I myself have been on a number of training programs lasting many months that culminated merely in a certificate of attendance, with no opportunity whatsoever to put the training into action.

If you have a bit of time to spare and are interested in how we can effectively bring more members of the church to maturity, this is a book worth a read. It is a little quirky in places, such as the candidates for training solemnly swearing not to get ill or die during their training! In many ways, churches that have embraced a “cell” model are already experiencing some of the benefits of his program. But reading it did make me ask whether there should be more avenues for a more intensive program of discipleship, where those who desire to become more spiritually mature devote themselves over a period of time to seeing real growth and progress. I dare say that if churches were to offer such a discipleship training program, they would find a good number of people wanting to do it.

I was hoping that this would be a rubbish book. Fasting is not something I enjoy, and so I didn’t really want to be persuaded to do more of it. However, the new year is a traditional time for prayer and fasting in many churches, my own included, so I thought it would be a good time to read the book.

“Beware of books on fasting” is the opening sentence of the book. The last thing that Piper would want to do is encourage a legalistic approach. He starts the book off by addressing the criticism that “fasting isn’t Christian”. He disagrees, making Matt 9:14-17 central to his case. The next chapter is devoted to Jesus’ own desert fast where he triumphed over the enemy.

In his usual style, Piper is methodical and thorough in making his case. While he doesn’t say much on the practical and physical aspects of fasting, the reasons behind it are dealt with systematically. Fasting expresses a hunger for God, and glorifies him by preferring him above his gifts. We are to fast for the reward of the Father, not for men to notice us.

Chapter 4 is devoted to fasting for the return of the King – the second coming, and Piper argues that the prayer “your kingdom come” is essentially the same as “maranatha”. Chapter 5 surveys fasting through history, from Old to New Testaments, using Finney, Edwards, and the Korean church as more modern examples. Piper particularly highlights the value of “secret fasting”, in addition to participating in corporate fasts.

There is a chapter on the poor, based on Isa 58, which is a powerful call to be awakened to the hunger of the world, not just your own hunger. This chapter is not so much a call to fasting as a call to action to help the poor – and Piper cautions against an all-or-nothing paralysing effect.

I sensed in places that Piper is more “charismatic” in this book than I have seen before. He discusses the specific guidance that God might bring through a time of prayer and fasting (while cautioning about the need for discernment). He also gives an example of when he felt drawn to prophetically relate a passage of Scripture to his friend’s physical healing.

The final chapter draws from the story of Ezra and calls for fasting on behalf of the many “little ones” who are aborted. His approach to the subject of abortion is direct and he quotes Schaeffer regularly. While not endorsing a “collective tantrum”, he urges Christians to prayer and action. The book’s conclusion is classic Piper, as he explains that the reason God rewards fasting is for his own glory as we acknowledge our helplessness and hope in him. An appendix contains many quotes from writers through the century expressing the value they place on fasting.

I believe this book is an excellent approach to the subject of fasting. It avoids setting out legalistic requirements, and while at the same time does a good job of communicating its value. Perhaps best of all, it seeks to stir a passionate hunger for God, for the second coming, for the poor to be fed, and for the lives of unborn children to be spared. If it can do this, then we will be driven to our knees in prayer and fasting.

This fascinating book addresses the question of how the decline of the church in the West might be turned around. The authors contend that the solution is not found in persuading secular people to enter our sacred spaces, but to invade secular space ourselves, as God did in Christ. They survey the lamentable condition of many traditional churches, which survive financially on a church tax, or by selling buildings, and are filled with clergy for whom leading is a profession rather than a passion. Even growing churches in the West have often simply learned “how to attract Christians from other churches more effectively than other congregations can”.

There is a desire for a “quick-fix” solution, perhaps taking the conventional wisdom of marketing strategies, but the authors claim that what is really needed is to “ignite a movement”, turning people into activists rather than merely participants. The world is yearning for an experience of community that the church would like to offer but has forgotten how to model.

In chapter 2 there is a helpful survey of church history and how the state and church have interacted for good and for ill over the years. In later chapters they move on to describe how they see the problem being solved. They question the idea that we simply need to pray for revival, arguing that we have romanticised many revivals of the past, and actually the church has grown more through gaining the favour of those around than simply through revival. People such as Wilberforce with his work to abolish slavery are seen as key to changing the nation’s opinion of the church.

Church planting is strongly emphasised throughout the book as a vital strategy in turning around the decline. They see this not just as an exercise for new churches, but as a process for renewal of traditional churches, planting fresh congregations in place of existing dwindling ones. They see a recovery of the Eph 4 ministries (not necessarily “offices), as crucial to this process.

Church leaders whose vision is merely for a bigger church come in for some censure – mission should be the end, the church is just the means. All churches (megachurches included) need to plan to plant other churches, and use small group discipleship as a means for training new leaders, spreading the vision, and helping people to “live the story”. There is also strong criticism for the “lone leader” approach, where a church is run by a senior pastor. They claim that the Biblical model is “team leadership”, drawing on 1 Cor 12. I think they overstate the case though when they say “there is no passage in the New Testament where leadership, in any dimension, is ever dealt with in singularity”.

Churches are described as “organic”, meaning that they will have a natural cycle from birth to maturity to decline and death. This model is used throughout the book, and some attention is given to how churches in the “decline” phase can be revitalised. Churches that want to help ignite a movement that will last beyond a single generation are encouraged to start praying seriously, using small groups for discipleship, take a pragmatic approach to evangelistic strategies, and ensuring that church planting is in the “DNA” of the church.

Overall I would say that anyone interested in church growth should read this book, to be challenged and stimulated to new ways of thinking. Even my own church grouping, New Frontiers, which has embraced many of the principles in this book, would do well to consider whether mega-churches are being sought as an alternative to church planting, rather than as a means for more aggressive church planting. Whether by restoration or renewal, the church in the West needs to regain a passion for what it is called to be and to do in this world.

If I was asked to name my top ten difficult doctrines before reading this book, I’m not sure that the love of God would have featured in the list. Right from the start, Carson acknowledges that many readers will wonder why this subject should be deemed ‘difficult’. The book is less than 100 pages long, and is based on a series of four lectures that Carson has given on the subject in various places. As lectures, they expect the reader to be comfortable with theological terminology, and also assume a broadly Reformed readership.

Carson starts by expressing concern that God is being “sentimentalized” in the evangelical church and we are abandoning the multi-faceted Biblical vision of his love and more generally his character. He lists five distinct ways in which the love of God is spoken about in the Bible, and these are key to the rest of the discussion throughout the book. If we make one of them primary to the neglect of the others, we end up with a warped view of God. He warns against the some cliches about God’s love which are at best only half-truths.

Chapter two deals with the statement “God is love”. He briefly repeats some of his arguments from “Exegetical Fallacies” here, claiming that some Christians have proved more than is legitimate about the meaning of agape as opposed to other Greek words for love. He argues that it is the love relationship between the Father and Son that is the standard for all other expressions of love.

The third chapter tries to deal with the issue of the affective nature of God’s love (denied by some versions of impassibility). Here he builds on a foundation of the sovereignty and transendance of God, along with the doctrine of election to affirm “compatibilism”. This is the view that though God is sovereign, we can and must affirm human responsibility rather than adopting fatalism. In this section he also briefly outlines his rejection of the “openness of God”. Carson clearly does not want to actually deny “impassibility” (it is after all in the Westminster Confession), but he wants it “rightly constrained”. God loves with emotion because he chooses to do so, a choice grounded in his own loving character. This is a love that differs from human romantic love – it is a love that is set upon the unlovely, and it is this type of love that Christians are called to emulate.

The fourth and final chapter deals with God’s love and wrath. Another cliche “God hates the sin but loves the sinner” is tried and found wanting here. If God’s love is Biblical, so is his wrath. If his love is emotive, so is his wrath. But he asserts that “there is nothing intrinsically impossible about wrath and love being directed toward the same individual or people at the same time”. God’s love and wrath are of course seen most explicitly at the cross. Carson deals briefly with some issues surrounding the atonement here – not seeing Jesus as placating an angry Father, but both Father and Son being intimately involved in propitiation. He also defends limited atonement, though prefers to call it “definite atonement”.

I found this book very helpful in summarising the Biblical material concerning the love of God, and bringing it into balance with other related Biblical themes. The love of God is amazing, and worthy of meditating upon far more often than we do. But lets not exchange it for a sentimental and shallow substitute that ends up denying the Biblical testimony to the character of God.