Summary:
The recent trend of Gospel-centrality has fueled the young Reformed movement and a host of new books by well known bloggers and pastors. It’s not so much a “trend” as it is a reawakening to the major truth of the Bible. Tullian Tchividjian (cha-vi-jin, rhymes with religion), the grandson of Billy Graham, is one of the best voices of this re-introduction to the Gospel.
The book’s thesis will be familiar to those who have been drenched in the Gospel-driven Reformed preaching of pastors like Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, and Tim Keller. Since our full acceptance and security is found in Jesus’s work alone, we no longer need to measure up to the world: Jesus measured up for us. It’s not about our performance for him, but about Jesus’s performance for us. Tullian also tells the story of his most painful year in which he had to learn this truth as if for the first time. With a captivating title and a highly articulate style, Tullian gets to work on the real meaning of Christ-given freedom.
Strengths:
Tullian rips apart the narcissistic Christian life that looks to “spiritual progress” and accountability, which leads to morbid introspection and despair, or pride. This is the one absolute strength of the book that will peel layers of monotonous church life right off you. A constant theme Tullian hammers is that it’s only when we stop trying to get better that we actually get better; we must fix our eyes on Jesus and not our own progress. Tullian isn’t afraid to rip up sacred cows like accountability groups, with which I agree with him on every point.
“Spiritual disciplines” have a way of being abused that become goalposts for a Christian, when really such self-absorbed busy work eventually burns us out. Jesus’s grace is not merely to get us in, but keep us in. We’ve heard this before, but Tullian has a strong vocabulary with equally strong passion. He makes subtle but crucial distinctions of Jesus’s substitutionary work that illuminates a whole new dimension of application for our daily lives.
I had the privilege of seeing Pastor Tullian preach the content of this book before it became a book. It was one of the most stunning sermons I have ever heard, even scandalous, because of Tullian’s unrelenting focus on grace. In just a few sentences he crushes legalism. In a few more he will make you uncomfortable with how much Jesus loves us.
Weaknesses:
The last half of the book, as other critics have noted, suffers from bad pacing and repetition. Tullian writes the same way he preaches: with commanding power but he tends to get wordy and goes in circles. On one hand this is good if you’re a slow reader to recap, but will frustrate faster readers. He does use many quotes and hymns, but I found he did this tastefully. You may be inclined to browse through some of the heavier biblical exegesis, which while good, may be too much information the first time around.
Another common problem with Gospel-centered books like this one (yet to be addressed) is it can make Jesus into an enigmatic theological mystery instead of a real person, and it’s hard to love a concept. If you only love what Jesus can give you — acceptance, victory, freedom — that’s still idolatry. I continue to wait for the Reformed writing that portrays Jesus as a king, priest, prophet, and brother.
Bottom Line:
You can tell Pastor Tullian is a passionate pastor who loves Jesus and strives dearly for the reader to feel freedom. While it drags in parts, Tullian is such a good writer that you will certainly feel the force of the liberating Gospel throughout the pages of his painful, poignant journey.
Choice Quotes:
“In this performancism, we eventually figure out that being the star of our own show actually makes life a tragedy. When life is all about us — what we can do, how we perform — our world becomes small and smothering; we shrink. To have everything riding on ourselves leads to despair, not deliverance.”
“Moralism beats this drum: If I improve, then I’ll be accepted — by God, by others, even by myself. But the gospel says something radically different. The gospel announces that everyone ‘in Christ’ is already accepted by God because of Jesus’s work for them. Therefore, no improvement, good behavior, or performance is necessary in order to experience the deep acceptance we long for and in fact strive for on a daily basis.” (62)
“Because of Christ’s finished work, Christians already possess the approval, the love, the security, the freedom, the meaning, the purpose, the protection, the new beginning, the cleansing, the forgiveness, the righteousness, and the rescue we intensely long for and, in fact, look for in a thousand things smaller than Jesus every day — things transient, things incapable of delivering the goods. The gospel is the only thing big enough to satisfy our deepest, eternal longings — both now and forever.” (77)
“The reason I hate the kind of group described above [for accountability] is that their focus is primarily (almost exclusively, in my experience) on our sin, and not on our Savior. Because of this, these groups breed self-righteousness, guilt, and the almost irresistible temptation to pretend — to be less than honest. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in accountability groups where there has been little to no attention given to the gospel whatsoever. There’s no reminder of what Christ has done for our sin — cleansing us from its guilt and power — and the resources that are already ours by virtue of our union with him. These groups produce a ‘do more, try harder’ moralism that robs us of the joy and freedom Jesus paid dearly to secure for us. They start with the narcissistic presupposition that Christianity is all about cleaning up and getting better — it’s all about personal improvement. But that’s not Christianity!”
–
