The Cross Centered Life by CJ Mahaney

The Cross Centered Life by CJ Mahaney 

This is a book review about a really little hardback from America that has a lot to say to us all in England;            

‘Sometimes the most important truths are the easiest to forget. It’s time to get back to the starting point of the Christian life—the cross of Christ. Jesus’ work on your behalf must be the central motivation for your life and faith—the main thing.’

This is Mahaney’s motivation for writing the book, that its readers may discover that the cross is the central thing in our life, it is the way we start our christian life, the way we end it and the way we live it out in the middle. He says in his inroduction that some may find it surprising that he teaches a 9 year old boy about God’s wrath toward sin. He goes onto to say that he finds it surprising that any loving person would withold this truth from any person they love. Quoting Jerry Bridges he says ; ‘the gospel is not only the most important message in all of history, it is the only essential message in all of history’.

Clearly, the message of the cross is Mahaney’s passion and he communicates how it should motivate our whole life very well indeed. The book is short, very short, its possible to read the whole thing in 2hours but it is packed with great application on the truth’s of the Christian gospel. He tackles what the gospel says to legalism and how the cross rescues from the performance trap. He encourages the reader with what the cross does to shame and guilt. He challenges what we base our faith on, feelings or the objective finished work of Jesus.

At every corner he encourages and rebukes us as we see that the cross really is the way to live the Christian life and J Knox Chamblin sums this up when he says; ‘the spirit does not take his pupils beyond the cross but ever more deeply into it’. In the last chapter he talks of finishing the book and putting it on a shelf and never reading it again but he says ‘never let the message of the cross slide into second or third place…never lay it aside…never move on’.

As i thnk about these things in the context of students and working with them the message of the book has such great insight. Studentdom is based on the latest things, getting their first, experiencing new ways of doing things, and this is especially true within christian circles.  We all want to be exciting and visonary and fresh and this is true but it should never be to the expense of the timeless gospel that saved us and will continue to save for generations to come. We must hold unswervingly to  the truth about Jesus found in scripture, it is our only hope, he is our only Saviour, the cross is our only way to be right with the God who made us.

The end of the book finishes with how it started, just like our christian life should at the foot of the cross recognising God’s forgiveness and mercy;

‘ I understand who I am and where I deserve to be. i deserve God’s wrath. Honestly, I deserve to be in hell. But instead I am God’s child. I’m forgiven and loved by Him. I’m going to heaven……I don’t know what tommorrow holds, but I know this: Because of the cross I’ll be doing much better than I deserve. That’s why, for the rest of my life, I want only to move deeper into the wonderful mystery of God’s love for me’.

J

One to One: A discipleship handbook, Book Review

Book Review: One-To-One: A Discipleship Handbook By Sophie De Witt                In the opening of this book Rico Tice says; ‘If you understand this book and put its principles into practice … you’ll be absolute gold dust in any church family.’ I can only echo these words as I have benefitted massively from reading this book and hope that because of it my church family will too.                As a student trainee at church one of our main areas of ministry is meeting up with students one to one. This is a really valuable ministry as you can study the bible together and apply it very specifically into the student’s lives. It also gives you the time to talk and pray through encouragements and problems. One to one’s can be particularly strategic with new Christians, people that you think may go onto ministry themselves and with people who are not yet Christians but want to learn about the Christian faith.                Well, Sophie De Witt really helps people with this book who want to be part of doing one to one’s as she lays out biblical principles of how valuable this work is, along with guidelines on how to carry it out and some good resources so that you can get on and do it.

1.       The Value of One to One’s.‘God’s plan is that we live and grow as Christians together, this only happens as we focus on each other as individuals.’There is a great quote from John Stott at the start of the book where he talks about someone who led him to Christ and then discipled him for many years, it turns out that this same man also did one to one work with Michael Green. God clearly used this man in a hugely valuable way to train and disciple people and encourage them to grow in their love and service of the Lord Jesus. In the New Testament we find these principles through Paul’s example with Timothy(Acts16) and Titus(2Corinthians1v13). The strategy of Jesus was to teach 12 disciples and then to let them go and spread the gospel: ‘Jesus’ strategy for reaching the world was to first reach a small group in a thorough way – so that in time through them he would then reach the world’.In essence then one to one work is massively valuable as we seek to point the whole world to Christ and see the extension of his kingdom.2.       The how to of one to one’s.One of the main strength’s of this book is that it is totally practical and covers many areas of one to one ministry. From how to get one started, amounts of time to spend, where to do it, who to do it with, how to study the bible, prayer, what to do when things get difficult etc. It is clear that Sophie de Witt has lots of experience in this area and she has spoken to many people that have to. Throughout the chapters they are punctured by speech boxes from other people who also shed their wisdom and insight on specific areas of one to one work.This is really helpful even for people who have been involved in one to one’s for some time. It may give you new ideas, correct what you do currently or encourage you that what you are doing is considered worthwhile and right. Through all the practical elements of the book the common thread is still that ‘the most important thing in personal work is to get people to be disciples of but one man – and that is Christ’. 3.       ResourcesAt the end of the book is a great list of resources that would be great to use in one to one work and really useful in setting it up yourself. There are some sample bible studies that serve as a great example and also books and web resources that you can use yourself or point others to. Overall, I would really recommend this book to people who want to be effective in bringing people Jesus and encouraging people to maturity with Jesus through personal work. It is great to equip you with all that is necessary to do it and also encourages you that we have a soverign God who can work in our weakness and chooses us to bring about his plans, namely people bowing the knee before the Lordship of Jesus.