A Gospel-Saturated Perspective on How to Change

I’ve been working on a novel for quite some time, a story about a missionary who commits a crime and is never caught, but whose life, ministry, and marriage now require decisive repentance and open confession, not mere quiet apologies and private prayers. This story comes from the heart, but I know that it whatever it teaches has to be theologically sound. For this reason, I sought out this book by Matt Chandler and Michael Snetzer, Recovering Redemption and its “Gospel-saturated perspective on how to change.”

Now, I had only heard of Matt Chandler through his run-ins with Conservative Evangelicalism in recent years, from those knee-jerk responses to some of his odd statements. For that reason, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. How bold or radical might it be? What I found here, though, was a careful, down-to-earth explanation of the the sanctification process in a believer’s life. Readers needn’t beware. This is a great book on change.

I’ll highlight here some of my favorite portions, beginning with the section on mortification versus vivification. As new creations, we like to believe that holiness will just come with the territory, but experience tells us otherwise. We still live with the muscle-memory of our old selves, which is why Paul tells us we need to actively put off the old and put on the new, and we must consciously consider ourselves dead to sin. He shares the example of someone who moves across town and, after so many years of following the same route from work still occasionally lapses into the old left-handed turn towards his old home instead of consciously choosing to turn right towards his new home. That’s us in this Christian life: reborn, yes, but still tending toward our old selves unless we purposefully live out this new Christian life.

Much later in the book, the authors describe our pursuit of joy—really everyone’s motivation for doing anything ever—and the spectrum of selfishness that our fight-or-flight mentality creates, from violent abuse on the one hand and suicide on the other. We’re all living somewhere on that spectrum, selfishly pursuing our own joy, and as we attempt to recognize where we fit in that spectrum, we need to make the willful choice to pursue joy in Christ ahead of anything else.

In this context, the authors also run to Matthew 18 with a blunt discussion on the Church’s need for confrontation. The only joy present in this difficult task is that of a renewed brother or sister in Christ, making it one of our most selfless acts in this faith. They also discuss the final step in this process ordained by Christ, to consider an unrepentant “believer” as non-believer and have nothing more to do with him. Their analogies were perfect, for nowhere else would it make sense to accept someone upon their mere claims of identification when all the evidence points to the opposite: “I love coffee! (except for the smell and especially the taste)” or “I’m a huge, huge Mets fan! (that’s baseball, right?)”. How silly and dangerous it is, then, for us to keep in our local bodies those who claim Christianity, yet refuse to live with Christ Jesus as their Lord!

Finally, I really appreciated their blunt discussion of the addictions people maintain, simply for the “joy” it brings. Paul Michael’s audio renderings of this section were laced with the sarcasm that the writers intended, which I really liked. They contrasted the joy of going to bed with your wife who will still hold your hand after 75 years against the “joy” of delving into pornography or adultery, which ultimately bears the fruit of anger, mistrust, and sleepless nights. Thirty minutes of “joy” traded for a lifetime of joy. And it happens all the time! What are people thinking?

I’m not sure if I’ll delve into any other Matt Chandler books, simply because his “brand” differs from my own, but I was very pleased with this book. It might not be the cure-all answer that Christians battling addiction might be hoping for, but it certainly points them in the right direction, namely to Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.

©2018 E.T.