More books that I've read in 2011

I've been slack in updating this list but then, I have been busy reading! A good batch of books too.

Living the Cross Centred Life - C.J.Mahaney

This was given me by a friend (thanks Stu!) and was a good solid read. In a time and place where some people get their knickers in a twist over the display of palm crosses in vans (according to the news today, anyway) this book reminds you of the centrality of the cross to faith. 8/10

Glory Days - Julian Hardyman

A book about living all of life as a follower of Jesus which highlights not only the need to bring all of life under his command but also enjoying the pleasures of life as well. In a book that celebrates beauty in life it is, fittingly, beautifully written. 8/10

Church Planting is for Wimps - by Mike McKinley

The idea is that church planting is for w imps because the really hard task is in revitalising a church that is on death's door. His situation was really extreme but I could identify with parts of it and it was an encouraging read. 7/10

The Work of the Pastor - William Still

I've heard this described as a modern classic and "unputdownable" but I managed to quite easily. Some gems in here but the style was probably a little old when written in the sixties and now much of it comes across as rather eccentric. Many great men love this book. I don't. 2/10

Respectable Sins - Jerry Bridges

Included here because I must have re-read it in the course of preaching a series based on it. It's been very well received by the congregation who - like me - have been very challenged by it's contents. Basically, there are no respectable sins, just those that we think don't matter. Great book. 9/10

Fortune's Always Hiding - John Lyall

Those of a theological nature may well be scratching their heads at this point, John was manager of West Ham United during their most successful league campaign - finishing third. Comes across as likable and decent, if a little bit Ron Manager in places. Needed to read something less heavy after William Still. 6/10

Worship Matters - Bob Kauflin

This is a book written for worship leaders in churches but as someone who - by default - often ends up doing this I still benefited greatly from reading it. The emphasis is on the character of the people called to the role rather than just their skills and that applies just as much to Pastors. 8/10

Respectable Sins - 1) Ungodliness

Don't tend to think of myself as ungodly, so it was a bit of a shock to read the chapter in Jerry Bridges' book on ungodliness. I approached it thinking that it might be interesting and put it down thinking God had done a number on me.

Bridges defines ungodliness in this way. It's a long quote but worth reading:

“Ungodliness may be defined as living one’s everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God’s will, or of God’s glory, or of one’s dependence on God. You can readily see, then, that someone can lead a respectable life and still be ungodly in the sense that God is essentially irrelevant in his or her life. We rub shoulders with such people every day in the course of our ordinary activities. They may be friendly, courteous, and helpful to other people, but God is not at all in their thoughts. They may even attend church for an hour or so each week but then live the remainder of life as if God doesn’t exist. They are not wicked people, but they are ungodly.

Now, the sad fact is that many of us who are believers tend to live our daily lives with little or no thought of God. We may even read our Bibles and pray for a few minutes at the beginning of each day, but then we go out into the day’s activities and basically live as if God doesn’t exist. We seldom think of our dependence on God or our responsibility to him. We might go for hours with no thought of God at all. In that sense, we are hardly different from our nice, decent, but unbelieving neighbour. God is not at all in his thoughts and is seldom in ours.” Respectable Sins, p54.

Ouch! This is too much like me. How self-sufficient do I kid myself I can be? How much of my prayer life is based on "Help!" or "Please bless my 'To-do' list"?

The passage that we looked at in church about this on Sunday was James 4.13-16 which warns us:

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.

Verse 13 sounds like the sort of thing candidates on the Apprentice say in the boardroom to try to impress Lord Sugar with.

Verse 14 reminds us we don't know what tomorrow will bring (and how true that turned out to be on Monday!) and that life is brief. So we mustn't be too quick or too certain in making our plans.

Start of the year we are all filling in diaries and calendars. Whose plans are they? Whose agenda? Have we even asked the boss? Or do we still figure we are in charge?

(The photo is of Siena in Tuscany. We were going there for our tenth anniversary. Then tomorrow happened - in the form of a car clutch needing replacing - and we went for a picnic instead).

Changing Rooms

To see in the New Year, last week in church we looked at the new wardrobe that Christians are given to wear. It's out with the old and the way we used to live and in with the new, the way that we are supposed to live. In Paul's letter to the Colossian church (chapter 3) he describes it in clothing terms.

This is what we used to wear...

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

This is the new outfit...

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Hardly rocket science, is it? To put it another way, we can't sing 'Jesus is Lord', or 'Jesus is King' and just live however we feel like living, can we?

The trick is to remember the new outfit - the uniform that we are expected to be wearing, if you like. And not to go rooting through the bin-bags for the old stuff again.

This is the introduction to the series we are starting on "Respectable Sins" based on / nicked from Jerry Bridges' excellent book of the same name. Looking forward to getting into it again tomorrow.