Book Review: Counsel for Christian Workers (Charles Spurgeon)

117 pages

Counsel for Christian Workers is a practical help guide for Christians in the workplace. It contains  fifteen chapters of 6-8 pages each, and has the aim of giving godly wisdom and advice for Christians serving in either full-time or strategic Christian ministry. Basically it is useful for every believer!

Chapter headings include An Earnest Man, Workers who are Successful, Obedience, The Kind of Labourers Wanted and A Great Leader and Good Soldiers.

This is one of those books that, every few pages, has a sharp piece of wisdom to share. This is pretty common to the works of Spurgeon, the 19th century preacher and trainer of young ministers. Lectures to My Students is another very helpful book for pastors to have a look through. Spurgeon is rarely lost in the clouds when he writes theology. The impression one gets from reading his books is that his eye is always on the practical application of God's word to right living.

Some examples in this book:

Young men, if you become diligent...you are likely men to be made into ministers; but if you stop and do nothing until you can do everything, you will remain useless – an impediment to the church instead of being a help to her. (p10)

Be content, and labour in your sphere, even if it be small, and you will be wise. (p11)

Get full assurance of your own salvation. There is no weapon like it. (p13)

Some comments surprised. I wondered about his view of overseas Christian work given this comment:

You may imitate Andrew [the apostle not the blog author!] in not going far afield to do good. Many Christians do all the good they can five miles off from their own house, when the time they take to go there and back might be well spent in the vineyard at home. (p11)

There is also a chapter on evangelism in which Spurgeon gives practical tips for sharing Christian faith. For example, he suggests the shedding of tears can be a help! He shares the story of a man who was verbally abused for giving out a pamphlet on Christianity. The man cried in front of his abusers out of concern for them. Years later he is reunited with one of his abusers who has been converted! 

In Summary

Counsel for Christian Workers is a brief and practical book of godly wisdom to help Christians live and share their faith in Christ more effectively. You will see the occasional anachronism. You will also see the occasional pearl of wisdom learnt from years of committed ministry. If you have a young adult who is maybe thinking through how they can be serving God in their work, this book may be helpful for them. Having said that, I found it a useful book to reflect on too. 

The best little piece of wisdom I took away from this book was from a story Spurgeon tells of a Christian man who had been behaving poorly. I leave it with you.

This man had erred from right acting because he had erred from right believing. (p111-112)

Nifties: Church Surveys

I am very interested in delving into medieval church history. In the evangelical world we just don't hear much about this 1000 year old period from 500 - 1500, save perhaps from Anselm and Aquinas and a couple of others.

Someone gave me this book one Christmas a while back so I am reading it now to begin my mini-investigation. Brief, full of colour photographs, beautiful to read through. Will post about its contents!

Postscript Saturday 14th Jan: An excellent little overview. Things I discovered/was reminded of were:
the development of Mary worship was a 12th century thing; the rise of academic theology was in this period; there were significant laity movements (such as the Lollards) that rose up to criticize the unwieldy hold of biblical interpretation by priests; and in the midst of this 1000 years there was some pretty outstanding Christian art!

Nifties: Free Christian Academic E-Journal

Credo magazine is a new, free, evangelical, academic e-journal that comes out bimonthly. It contains articles on current social and Christian issues, interviews, and biblical thought. It has book reviews too!

Read the current issue here.  

Nifties: Sinclair Ferguson

There's nothing worse than hearing a sermon that has no pastoral heart. I should know, having unfortunately given such sermons at points over the years!

This is the same for Christian books. There are different books for different purposes, to be sure. You'll find academic monographs on a specific theological/exegetical subject, technical bible commentaries and dense theological works. These are all important.

My default is to find books to read that have a pastoral heart to them. In other words, they give you information to foster godly Christian living and thinking in you. They apply God's word into your life, ask questions of your lifestyle choices and push you to think biblically.

Last year I enjoyed reading books by Sinclair Ferguson. I mentioned one of his books a few posts ago. Someone said to me once that if you have an author who teaches the bible well (having asked people such as your pastor and/or your Christian mentors) and you click with their writing style, stick with them! Make them your teacher.

One of those folk for me is Sinclair Ferguson. I read through his popular commentaries when I prepare sermon series. They are intelligent, very readable, full of pastoral application and wise. They're also cheap!

Ferguson doesn't just write commentaries. I've just bought the book below and am really looking forward to reading it:

          
I'll post about it after reading it.

Book Review: The Grace of Repentance

As a pastor I'm always on the lookout for little books to give away if and when the time comes. Having said that, 2011 wasn't a big book giving year. Anyway...

This book was added to my 'potential book giving' list in 2011. It's a small book, in size about as big as my hand, and 61 pages long. 

And yes - it is about the grace of repentance in the life of a believer. The big idea of the book can really be summarized in a quote the author gives from Martin Luther:

When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "repent", he meant that the entire life of believers should be one of repentance. (p13)

Sharing this quote at the beginning of the book, Sinclair Ferguson then devotes a very helpful chapter to the biblical bases for a lifetime of repentance and what the elements of repentance look like in a believer's life. Essentially his point is that believers, saved by the grace of God in Christ, are now to be 'dying to the old ways, crucifying the flesh' (p25). 

He gives a case study of King David in outlining the effects of sin:

David had discovered the truth about himself. His soul was like an onion, with layer upon layer of self deception and pretence keeping him from recognizing his true spiritual condition. (p29)

After a brief survey of historical interpretation of these biblical passages on sin, the book's final chapter ends (as it should!) with the Christian hope, although there is also a sting in the tail with a challenge to believers and churches to take God's word seriously and turn to God. Make a habit of repentance! 

Incidentally, I've called books like this one 'nifties' in our journal. 'Nifties' here are brief, useful books that promote kingdom living in a readable, accessible way. You'll see 'nifties' posts every now and then to alert you to these resources!

I had thought this book would be useful to give to someone who you've spoken to who is stuck in a rut in their Christian life, doesn't know why (after you've eliminated other possibilities such as depression, physical illness or some outside influence out of their control). Give it to them to read and say you'll shout them a coffee to discuss it together later!