I was excited to receive a review copy of Sabbath by Dan Allender from Thomas Nelson Publishers for several reasons. First, I am currently writing commentary on Luke 6:1-10, where Jesus has Sabbath day controversies with the Jewish religious leaders, and I was hoping the book could shed some light on the statement by Jesus that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Though the book did not provide much discussion about this specific passage, the overall content of the book did push me in the direction I was already heading.

Second, I was excited to read the book because as life gets busier with work, marriage, family, and writing, I often feel the need to slow down, rest, and occasionally just stop. I knew that this is the concept behind the Sabbath, but did not want to develop a legalistic Sabbath observance full of rules and regulations that removes the purpose for the Sabbath. The book was somewhat helpful in this regard also.

Overall, Dan Allender presents the Sabbath as day of rest, but not for sitting around, twiddling your thumbs, and thinking Godly thoughts. Many of us, in our more honest moments, think a day spent that way is more wasteful than restful. I think Allender would agree. He even points out that you do not keep the Sabbath simply by going to church. He, along with Eugene Peterson, calls this a “bastard Sabbath.” Far too often, church attendance has become the opposite of what God intended for the Sabbath (p. 8, 24, 66, 88).

The Sabbath, as Dan Allender describes it, is a day of delight. It is to be full of joy, sensual abandon (reveling in our God-given senses), laughter, and memory making. It is a day when we live out redemption, when we imagine what life will be like in the eternal Kingdom of God (the eternal Sabbath), and then try to live out that vision here and now. Living the Sabbath is Kingdom living. It is window into eternity, a foretaste of the New Heaven and New Earth.

So while there are few hard and fast rules for keeping a Sabbath, Dan Allender paints a picture in his book of spending time with friends and family, enjoying sumptuous meals, taking walks, enjoying long talks, and doing whatever we find enjoyable in life. For him, it includes fly-fishing, reading, and writing. For others, it will look different.

As a result of reading this book, I celebrated a Sabbath with my family this past Tuesday. We got up, ate breakfast, and then went ice skating for two hours. While there, our girls made a new friend, Mia, and I met a man named Ed who is on the board for Chosen People Ministries. He and his skating partner compete nationally, and they gave my wife and I some skating tips. After this, we ran a few errands, and then went to Olive Garden for Zeppoles. We came home, ate a light dinner, watched a Christmas movie together, and then went to bed. It was a wonderful day, full of laughter, joy, and memories. It was a foretaste, at least for me, of what I hope eternity will be like.

I had a few criticisms of the book (when do I not?), but will leave those unspoken, for that too, is an element of Sabbath. If you want to restore peace and joy to your life, I recommend reading this book.

Disclosure: I reviewed this book as part of the BookSneeze program.

Radical by David Platt never would have been published if he were not a pastor of a megachurch. Even considering that fact, publication is iffy. He says nothing new, and even what he says is not said in a new or creative way. It seems that it’s almost part of the job description for megachurch pastors to write a book like this. So why did it get published? David explains why in the first line of his book: he was the youngest megachurch pastor in history.

What a way to start a book! Sure, David goes on to say that he was uneasy with such a claim and wasn’t even sure that it was true, but still…how do you write a book which is supposed to be about taking back your faith from the American Dream and start the book by stating that you are the youngest megachurch pastor in American history? Really?

The rest of the book follows the same tenor. He frequently speaks of all the places in the world he has visited, the rich people in his church, and the letters he gets from people all over the world. What is this but riches, popularity, power, and fame? At the conclusion of his book, he challenges his readers to a one-year experiment of radical living where they pray more, read the Bible more, give more, serve more, and attend church (or small groups) more. This is about as “radical” as a megachurch pastor is allowed to get. Anything more gets you fired.

I’m not trying to criticize David Platt. I’m sure he’s a great pastor and faithful follower of Jesus Christ. And I know this really isn’t a review of his book. I just find it ironic that when Multnomah publishes a book about giving up what is bigger, better, younger, and richer in order to follow Jesus, the author is someone who is bigger, better, younger, and richer.

Sure, the book contains examples of how David has moved to a smaller house, and how rich people in his church sold everything to give the money to the church, and the struggle David faces in reconciling the teachings of Jesus with pastoring a megachurch. But he’s still there and so is the multimillion dollar campus. The people are still rich. The church is still powerful. David is still famous.

Is it possible to have a book written by someone who is not all these things? What about the person who gives the widow’s mite? What about the pastor who has served in the same church for 50 years in a dying community? What about the parents who never had children, and didn’t have the money to adopt, and didn’t qualify for foster care, but still took care of needy children in their neighborhood?

What about the family who could never downsize their home because they never owned a home? What about the pastor who grew his church from 10 to 100, and then, rather than give himself a raise, took a pay cut and a second job so he could send 50 of those people to another part of the city to plant a new church? This is radical. This is following Jesus. This is living your faith outside the American dream. I personally know people who have done all these things. To me, they are the true radicals.

Disclosure: This book was given to me for review on this blog by Multnomah and their Blogging for Books program.

I’ve read about a dozen books by N. T. Wright, and I am sorry to say that Small Faith, Great God is not his best. Of course, even a “bad” book by N. T. Wright would be better than most other books on the market. So if you have never read anything by N. T. Wright, this might be a good introduction to some of his themes and ideas. Of course, it appears this book was his own introduction to his own ideas, since it was originally published in 1978, before he had become one of the leading New Testament scholars in the world.

The book seems to be loosely arranged around the topic of faith, and nearly every chapter seems like it might originally have been a sermon or homily. This isn’t a bad thing, as most published pastors follow the same practice. I just wish that N. T. Wright (or his editor) had made better connections between the chapters, or simply chosen different chapters to include.

Of course, the weakness of the book is also its strength. Though the chapters are loosely connected, this allows each individual chapter to be enjoyed on its own merit. There is not an extended argument to follow from chapter to chapter. Instead, most chapters focus on explaining and applying a single passage from Scripture. And N. T. Wright’s insights on Scripture are always worth reading.

So as with the rest of N. T. Wright’s books, this one is also worth reading.