"Slave" by John MacArthur

"To be a Christian is to be a slave of Christ ."  -212

That is how pastor and author John MacArthur's latest book Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity in Christ ends.  Christianity is defined by slavery to their Lord Jesus Christ.  That is anything but what the average believer hears on Sunday mornings or in popular Christian and spiritual books today.  We emphasize self-esteem, self-help, pragmatic theology, and church growth strategies rather than the call to be slaves of Christ.

This is not a new message of MacArthur.  A few years ago MacArthur preached a sermon on this subject and has sense opened the eyes of many believers around the world.  Here's the truth.  Those who embrace the gospel message is embracing slavery.  We are slaves of Christ.

Certainly this is offensive to our sensitive modern ears, but let us not think that somehow it wouldn't be equally offensive to the early Christians who lived in a culture where slavery was still being practiced.  What MacArthur is not saying is that slavery is biblical or should be legal, but what he is saying is that the the imagery of the slave adequately illustrates what it means to be a Christian.  When we embrace Christ as our Lord - thus embrace the gospel - we enter the world of slavery as Christ as our Master.

MacArthur takes the time to offer the reader brief historical, cultural, and biblical survey of the issue.  He looks at Old Testament slavery and Greco-Roman slavery.  He survey's some of the cultural issues surrounding slavery and then adoption, economics, etc.  Though MacArthur does not go into great detail, he offers enough for the reader to understand why Scripture utilizes slavery image to describe the gospel.

But MacArthur goes beyond that.  We are not just slaves of Christ, but we are at the same time adopted sons and daughters of God (see Romans 8 among other places), heirs with Christ, and we are considered friends of Christ (see John 15).  In other words, to be a slave of Christ, is to be a free son of God beloved by our Father and Lord.  How does this makes sense?  As MacArthur shows, only the gospel can explain it.

MacArthur rightly points out that Scripture reveals that all of us are slaves. We are either slaves of Christ or slaves of sin.  Admittedly MacArthur could have nuanced this a little more, but he does raise the issue.  I have found this truth particularly helpful in my own ministry.  Many who are repulsed by the idea of embracing Christ and becoming His slave fail to see that Jesus is calling us out of slavery to sin.  The question isn't if we slaves, but who or what are we enslaved to?

Let me ask you, what one thing that if you were to have, possess, or achieve would bring you joy, peace, contentment, and love?  Do you ever think that if you had that job or career you'd be at peace and in contentment?  Do you think that if you were married you would be happy and loved?  In your everyday life are you pursuing things that you believe that will bring you joy, peace, contentment, and love and yet when you possess them they seem to fail?  You might get married, but eventually you start fighting and suddenly you want out.  You might get that job, but your boss hates you.  You may be able to live that lifestyle, but now your over your head.  You might be considered beautiful by all of your peers, but guys treat you like meat.  It seems that we foolishly pursue things thinking that they will give us what we want and when we don't, we pursue them even more.

That is slavery.  And I have seen countless people pursue their slavery thinking that it will bring them freedom, but only more bondage.

MacArthur doesn't explore this point in the sort of detail that I believe it warrants, He does raise it and it is something that everyone, believers and nonbelievers, should take more seriously.

I cannot recommend this book enough.  This is an issue that Christians need to take more seriously.  MacArthur certainly is right when he states, "To be a Christian is to be a slave of Christ ."  -212

I am a joyful slave of a benevolent Master named Christ.  Are you?


I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”





For more:
Reviews - "The Gospel According to Jesus" by MacArthur 
Reviews - What I'm Reading - November 30, 2010 
Reviews - "Outlive Your Life" by Max Lucado
Reviews - "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns 
Reviews - "Saint Patrick" by Jonathan Rogers
Reviews - "A Century Turns" by William Bennett
Reviews - "Sir Winston Churchill"
Reviews - "On this Day in Christian History"  

"The Gospel According to Jesus"

What is the most important book written by John MacArthur?  This would be fascinating debate for years to come and only history will tell, but I want to argue that at the list of possibilities would have to be The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith?  Originally written in the early 1980's, MacArthur was responding to the Lordship controversy which argued that one can come to salvation without ever submitting to the Lordship of Christ, thus forsaking all and submitting to His authority living a life of repentance and bearing fruits in keeping with faith.  In other words, the debate was over the legitimacy easy-believism (I realize this is an oversimplification reflecting my own conclusion on the subject matter).

The first chapter of the anniversary addition begins:

Jesus is Lord (1 Cor. 12:3).

That is the single, central, foundational, and distinguishing article of Christianity.  it is also the first essential confession of faith every true Christian must make:  'If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved' (Rom. 10:9).  The belief that someone could be a true Christian while that person's whole lifestyle, value system, speech, and attitude are marked by a stubborn refusal to surrender to Christ as Lord is a notion that shouldn't even need to be refuted.  It is an idea that you will never find in any credible volume of Christian doctrine or devotion from the time of the earliest church fathers through the era of the Protestant Reformation and for at least three and half centuries beyond that. The now-pervasive influence of the no-lordship doctrine among evangelicals reflects the shallowness and spiritual poverty of the contemporary evangelical movement.  It is also doubtless one of the main causes for evangelicalism's impoverishment.  you cannot remove the lordship of Christ from the gospel message without undermining faith at its core.  That is precisely what is happening the church today.  -25

From here MacArthur launches into his defense of affirming Jesus as Lord and attacking the contrary belief.  I must side with MacArthur in this old debate.  I say old because no one is talking about it, but anyone who has served in ministry will tell you that this debate continues today. Within the past year I have come across a number of church members who have no functional understanding of the gospel though they have been "members" since a child and have been baptized.  They were told that all they had to do was say a prayer and get baptized without ever being told Jesus command to pick up one's cross and follow Him.  The call to surrender, submit, follow, obey, and repent is foreign to most Christians and most pastors care more about numbers than they do about faithfully proclaiming the gospel.

MacArthur's book is a must read as he walks the reader through the message, the gospel, of Jesus Christ.  He surveys His teachings, His parables, His preaching, and of course, His death and resurrection.  The gospel isn't cheap but many treat it so.  Let us not forget that in order for the gospel to exist, Jesus had to die.  The gospel, again, is not cheap.  It is imperative that the Church recover the full message of the gospel.  The gospel is not limited to justification, though I wholeheartedly affirm sola fida, but also includes sanctification, regeneration, adoption, and final justification.  MacArthur is right when he says that the God who justifies also sanctifies.  We know this because the Jesus that was crucified was also raised. The God of the gospel is not content in leaving His adopted children in sin but through His Spirit is making them more like Him.

What is the gospel?  That is the most important question anyone can ask and in this book MacArthur provides a deep, satisfying, and costly answer.


For more:
Reviews - The gospel According to Jesus" by Chris Seay 
Reviews - What is the Gospel?  
Reviews - Hard to Believe  
Reviews - "A Tale of Two Sons" 
Reviews - "the Jesus You Can't Ignore" 
Reviews - Why One Way

See also MacArthur's other book on this subject:    The Gospel According to the Apostles

"On This Day in Christian History"

I love Christian history and have gained insight into theology and Christian living by leaning on the faithful saints of the past.  I also like to read daily devotions that draw me closer to Christ and the gospel.  Recently I was given a copy of the book On This Day in Christian History: 365 Amazing and Inspiring Stories about Saints, Martyrs and Heroes by Robert J. Morgan.  The book is pretty straightforward.  there is roughly one page dedicated to each day of the year which offers, in a devotional manner, an event or person from history.

For example, January 1 tells of the power of preaching verse by verse and book by book through the life and ministry of the great reformer Ulrich Zwingli.  The author goes on to detail the great story of Zwingli and how God used him to bring the gospel to the people in Zurich and beyond.  This story reminds me, especially as a pastor, of the great power of Scripture and how Zwingli has set the precedent of the power of Scripture.  I want a ministry like that, driven by the power of God's Word and not on my limited abilities and talents.

Everyday is like that.  Some days are humorous, others are more drastic.  The author offers a great survey from throughout the two thousand year history of the church and the reader is blessed with daily insights into the saints of the past.  Those who love history and would like a daily dose of practical, historical insights will love this book.  It is a constant reminder of God's providence and goodness throughout all the ages and cultures the Church found Herself in.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”





For more:
Reviews - "Outlive Your Life" by Max Lucado
Reviews - "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns 
Reviews - "Saint Patrick" by Jonathan Rogers
Reviews - "A Century Turns" by William Bennett
Reviews - "Sir Winston Churchill"