That darn Amazon free shipping. Gets me ALL the time! I go to buy a couple of books, but I'm just short of the $25 limit to get free shipping, so I ended up buying one more book so I can save approximately $5.76 on shipping. That's how I ended up purchasing Matt Chandler's first book, the Explicit Gospel.
But I'm glad I went for the free shipping! The Explicit Gospel very carefully addresses the issue of the gospel, and Matt (with Jared's strong writing skills) aims to bring a very balanced, yet thoroughly biblical approach to looking at this amazing core doctrine of Christianity.
I have listened to so many Chandler sermons that I could hear Matt preaching as I read the book. So yes, that means he was yelling at me occasionally! Several of the stories or illustrations used in the book I have heard used in the podcasts from The Village (the church Matt pastors), but that didn't diminish their effectiveness in bringing light to Matt's point.
While I am glad I read Matt's first published work, I think I went in with too high of expectations. The book is good and worth the read, but it didn't have the force I was expecting. Don't get me wrong - Matt is very forceful with his points (just like he is in his preaching), but perhaps it was the force with which he writes that makes his point lose some of it's force on me. Matt is a bit more black & white than I, so he states things as if they are a closed case, which gives the impression he isn't open to listening. While I was hoping to be personally impacted by Matt and Jared's writing, I couldn't help at times but to think about close friends who would disagree with Matt's point, and because of the force with which he makes his point, they would tune him out, rather than hear the important point he is making (and I would agree with).
The best part of the book is the last section on "Implications and Applications (of the Explicit Gospel)". But in order to appreciate it, you must work through the first two sections - The Gospel on the Ground (God, Man, Christ, Response) and The Gospel in the Air (Creation, Fall, Reconciliation, Consummation).
The greatest chapter for me was the final chapter about "Moralism and the Cross". That chapter alone is worth the price of the book as it addresses the issue of "therapeutic moralistic deism" so prevalent in American culture. I'll probably use parts of it when I counsel people.
Matt always challenges me. Even when I'm not sure I agree, he makes me think and wanting to get back to the Scriptures to see what they say for themselves. The Explicit Gospel continued that in my life - and for that, I'm grateful I made the time to read it.
Rating: 4 baby steps (and a fall) out of 5 (you'll have to read the book to learn Matt's baby step illustration!)
No comments:
Post a Comment