Review

How People Change answers the perennial question, “How do I really grow as a Christian?” Lane and Tripp identify a major problem in Christianity: church life, Biblical preaching, and knowledge of God often are disconnected from actual change in behavior and lifestyle (ch 1). After identifying this gap, the authors examine several common “solutions” to this problem, but point out how those ideas fall short or lack essential biblical truths (ch 2). They then orient the book by pointing the reader clearly at Christ’s image by emphasizing our hope in future salvation (ch 3) and our certainty in our present union with Christ (ch 4). After offering this essential hope, they give the needed reminder that relationships with other Christians are key to seeing change (ch 5).

Their solution to this problem is a four-part metaphor: Heat, Thorns, Cross, and Fruit. They present an overview of this answer (ch 6), making clear that redemption in Jesus stands at the center of the solution to our struggle. Heat is any pressure that we face in life; Thorns are our wrong default response, the Cross is what changes our focus from self to Jesus, and Fruit is he new right response to pressure. The following eight chapters flesh out those four parts of the metaphor more fully and the final two chapters tell the story of how this viewpoint enabled a couple and a church to grow in godliness.

The entire book is packed full of realistic examples of to illustrate our need for change and the way to seek it. This is a benefit for visual learners, but for people who just need the facts, the high frequency of examples (and the length they add to the book) may be a drawback.

This book attempts to cover two goals related to lasting Christian growth. The first is communicate the gospel and the believer’s identity in Christ; the second is to give a useful structure for applying those truths to effect life change. The authors do a much better job on the first goal: chapters 1-6 are the meat of this book.

Recommendation

In my opinion, How People Change is a valuable resource. It would be helpful to supplement it with The Gospel Primer to accomplish the first goal and Changed into His Image to accomplish the second for some readers.

You can buy How People Change in paperback or for Kindle.

Favorite Quotes

• “Whenever we are missing the message of Christ’s indwelling work to progressively transform us, the hole will be filled with a Christian lifestyle that focuses more on externals than on the heart.” [7]
• “We all have a personal dream of a better life. We examine our lives, decide where change is needed, and imagine what it would look like. The problem is that our desires don’t go deep enough. It is here that the Bible challenges our dreams.” [33]
• “Christ brings the assets. We bring the liabilities. Yet Christ still joins himself to us!” [53]
• Psalm 88: “Honest expressions of fear, pain, and doubt were welcome in the place of worship, atonement, and forgiveness.” [100]
• “The anger we reveal in the middle of trial says more about us than it does about the trial.” [113]
• “God does not call us to self-loathing, but to a willingness to examine our lives in light of our hope as new creatures in Christ.” [119]
• “God did not gloss over suffering, but took costly measures to end it.” ([133]
• “The old sinful me has died. But it has not been replaced with a better me. The replacement is Christ!” [159]
• “While a Christian should never minimize personal gifts, past problems, or current struggles, these do not displace his or her more fundamental identity of being in Christ.” [159]
• “A new lifestyle … does not grow out of a stoic obedience to God’s commands, but from a heart that has been captured and captivated by the Giver of those commands.” [173]
• “What we actually see in [Psalm 4] is God’s grace at work in a man’s heart, empowering him to do things that would be impossible on his own.” [187]

Corrections

• The “fullness of the Deity … in bodily form” (Col. 2.9) probably does not refer to the dove at Christ’s baptism (44). This is not far removed from the heresy that the divine nature came on Christ during his life. A better understanding of Col. 2.9 is that Christ has always had the fullness of God and that the bodily form entered at his incarnation.
• While emphasizing the amazing truth of our union with Christ, the authors mishandle two passages. Eph. 5 does not use “marriage as a metaphor to depict Christ’s relationship with his people” (48); it uses the metaphor of “head and body” to apply the Gospel to husbands and wives.
• Likewise, II Cor. 11.1-3 does not speak of the church as Christ’s wife, but as his betrothed. The attempt to justify this stretch on the basis of Mary and Joseph’s betrothal (49) is weak and fails to recognize cultural differences between 1st century betrothal and modern engagement / marriage.
• In I Jn. 3.1, the phrase “how great” does come from ποταπος. That word can mean “from what country” in some contexts, but it is a broader word that simply means “of what sort” (Gingrich & Danker’s Shorter Lexicon). There is no basis for interpreting the phrase as “from what planet!” as the authors do (163).

Chapter Outline

1. The Gospel Gap
   Many Christians today seem unable to visualize and achieve spiritual growth. They’re blinded by sin and distracted by externalism.
2. Counterfeit Hopes
   When we pursue changes in circumstance, thinking, and behavior as our solution, we miss the true hope of our fullness and new nature in Christ.
3. Here’s Where God Is Taking You
   We need to look at daily life through the lens of our final destination: Christlikeness in God’s presence.
4. Married to Christ
   In our union with Christ, we bring liabilities, but he brings countless assets that make possible our spiritual success.
5. Change Is a Community Project
   Real growth takes place in the context of meaningful, Gospel-centered relationships.
6. The Big Picture
   God’s Word does not simply address isolated situations, but provides a big picture for living all of life correctly.
7. Heat 1: God in the Real World
   God understands our struggles and pain; our problems do not surprise him.
8. Heat 2: You in the Real World
   We become frustrated when we have unrealistic expectations for life in a broken world.
9. Thorns 1: What Entangles You?
   When we meet with pressure, we naturally respond with denial, hypersensitivity, revenge, paralysis, self-righteousness, or other sinful attitudes and actions.
10. Thorns 2: Why Do You Get Entangled?
    The reason we produce Thorns while under heat is because our hearts are sinful and tend toward idolatry.
11. Cross 1: New Identity and New Potential
    We can change because (1) our flesh has been put to death, (2) Christ lives in us, and (3) we now live for Christ’s glory.
12. Cross 2: The Cross and Daily Living
    Daily life should be focused on the cross’s ramifications and include deliberate repentance and steps of faith.
13. Fruit 1: Real Heart Change
    Since the heart’s sin is the cause of thorns, heart change is necessary to produce fruit.
14. Fruit 2: New and Surprising Fruit
    The Bible paints a shocking picture of the glorious fruit that appears in believers’ live; this should give hope and direction.
15. One Couple’s Story
16. One Church’s Story

You can buy How People Change in paperback or for Kindle.

The Trinitarian view of preaching presented in The Supremacy of God in Preaching (John Piper) gives a clear God-ward focus to this part of ministry. The goal is God’s glory; the foundation is Jesus’ cross-work; the power is the Holy Spirit. Also, the pairing of gladness and gravity as the two essential things to communicate is a useful guard against both externalism and flippancy. Throughout the book, exhortations to an earnest preaching ministry abound, filling out the practical counsel with solid motivation.

1. Why God Should Be Supreme in Preaching
1. The Goal of Preaching: The Glory of God
   Rom 10.14-15 : Isa 52.7 :: Good news : “Your God reigns”
   “The only submission to the Lordship of Christ that fully magnifies his worth and reflects his beauty is the humble gladness of the human soul in the glory of God in the face of his son” (28-29).
2. The Ground of Preaching: The Cross of Christ
1. The Cross as the Ground of the Validity of Preaching
   “God designed a way to vindicate the worth of his glory and at the same time give hope to sinners who have scorned that glory – and what he designed was the death of his Son” (35).
2. The Cross as the Ground of the Humility of Preaching
   “The cross is the power of God to crucify the pride of both preacher and congregation” (36).
3. The Gift of Preaching: The Power of the Holy Spirit
1. Relying on the Gift of the Spirit’s Word – the Bible
   Quote words of Scripture; don’t just summarize passages.
   “The work of the Holy Spirit in the process of interpretation is not to add information, but to give us the discipline to study well, and the humility to accept the truth we find without twisting it, and often a desperately needed discovery or insight in his providential guidance of our work” (46).
2. Relying on the Gift of the Spirit’s Power in Preaching
1. Admit to the Lord that I can do nothing without him.
2. Pray for help.
3. Trust a specific promise where I can bank my hope for that hour.
4. Act in the confidence that God will fulfill his Word.
5. Thank God at the end of message.
4. The Gravity and Gladness of Preaching
   “Gladness and gravity should be woven together in the life and preaching of a pastor in such a way as to sober the careless soul and sweeten the burdens of the saints” (55).
   “If you don’t give gladness, you don’t give the gospel; you give legalism” (57).
1. Strive for practical, earnest, glad-hearted holiness in every area of your life.
2. Make your life – especially the life of your study – a life of constant communion with God in prayer.
3. Read books that were written by men or women who bleed Bible when you prick them and who are blood-earnest about the truths they discuss.
4. Direct your mind often to the contemplation of death.
5. Consider the biblical teaching that as a preacher you will be judged with greater strictness.
6. Consider the example of Jesus.
7. Strive with all the strength you have to know God and to humble yourself under his mighty hand.
2. How to Make God Supreme in Preaching (Guidance from the Ministry of Jonathan Edwards)
   “Choose one great theologian and apply [yourself] throughout life to understanding and mastering his thought” (67).
1. Keep God Central: The Life of Jonathan Edwards
2. Submit to Sweet Sovereignty: The Theology of Edwards
   “The goal of all that God does is to preserve and display his glory” (79).
   “The duty of man is to delight in God’s glory” (79).
   “Preaching is a means of grace to assist the saints to persevere. Perseverance is necessary for final salvation. Therefore, every sermon is a ‘salvation sermon’” (81).
3. Make God Supreme: The Preaching of Edwards
1. Stir Up Holy Affections
2. Enlighten the Mind
3. Saturate with Scripture
4. Employ Analogies and Images
5. Use Threat and Warning
6. Plead for a Response
   Edwards: “Sinners … should be earnestly invited to come and accept of a Savior, and yield their hearts unto him, with all the winning, encouraging arguments for them … that the Gospel affords” (94, from Concerning the Revival, 391).
7. Probe the Workings of the Heart
8. Yield to the Holy Spirit in Prayer
   Edwards: “I spent most of my time in thinking of divine things, year after year; often walking alone in the woods and solitary places, for meditation, soliloquy, and prayer” (99, from “Personal Narrative,” Selections, 61).
9. Be Broken and Tenderhearted
10. Be Intense
    “Good preaching gives the impression that something very great is at stake” (103).

Qualification: Piper says that “the cross is a witness to the infinite worth of God’s glory and a witness to the immensity of the sin of my pride” (35), against the idea that the cross is a witness to my worth. However, we should be careful not minimize the genuine sacrificial love that the cross displayed.

Disagreement: Piper defines “righteousness of God” as “his unwavering zeal for the exaltation of his own glory” (32). I suppose he could defend this definition by explaining that the ultimate “standard to which God conforms” is his glory-zeal, but that doesn’t make his definition accurate. Justice and moral uprightness are key components of righteousness that should not be omitted as though subservient to glory.

Disagreement: Piper identifies God’s righteousness as an obstacle to his purpose of reflecting his glory in our submission (32). However, I’d contend the righteousness is not the obstacle; our sin is. Preaching does not need to “overcome” the righteousness of God; it needs to overcome our inability to handle that righteousness.

Discussion: Piper suggests finding a theologian and delving deeply into his life and theology. That sounds like a useful idea to me. Do you agree and, if so, do you have any recommendations on whom that theologian should be?

I recommend purchasing The Supremacy of God in paperback or Kindle format.