New advent book: The One True Gift

My third (and final) advent book is now out: The One True Gift. Here’s the blurb:

Christmas is meant to be full of joy and light; but all too often it is spoiled by grumbling and arguing. So this year, prepare to encounter Christ afresh in a way that will make you a bearer of peace and goodwill all season long.

In these 24 short daily readings for Advent, Tim Chester peels back the layers on Philippians 2. Each day includes ideas for reflection, prayer and application, designed to excite you about the One True Gift—the Lord Jesus—in the run-up to Christmas Day.

This collection of inspiring readings also comes with hymns, carols and prayers to help you prepare your heart for Christmas.

The One True Gift is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. My previous advent books are The One True Light and The One True Story.

Here are some commendations for The One True Gift …

Tim Chester’s writing is clear, fresh and allows the light of God’s word to shine brightly. I am looking forward to using Tim’s book in Advent and I hope many will too. Advent focuses on true gifts which we neglect at our peril; there is accountability, there is a God who cares, there is a universe in which the kingdom of God has come and will come. Don’t let Advent be taken over by Christmas, use Tim’s book to discover more of the one true gift.

The Right Reverend Keith Sinclair
Bishop of Birkenhead

Read and pray your way though this Advent book and your Christmas may be very different from previous ones. Or rather, you may be a very different person this Christmas, which is rather more important. Of course, it’s not all about you, it’s all about Jesus Christ, but if you are IN Christ, then actually it is all about you too. Tim Chester fills out the wonderful words of Paul in Philippians with delightfully written short reflections, full of fresh images and comparisons and in a style that is very easy to read, though less easy to live. You’ll feed on some very rich biblical theology, bite-size but deeply nourishing.

Chris Wright
International Ministries Director, Langham Partnership

Rich in biblical truth and robust in its theology, The One True Gift is a treasure you’ll want to enjoy this Advent season (or any time, really). Tim does a magnificent work in lifting our eyes to the God-man, Jesus Christ, helping us apply his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and glorious return to our daily experience. Take this devotional slowly; there’s so much to see and savor in its pages!

Kristen Wetherell

Ministry Content Manager, Unlocking the Bible, and co-author of Hope When It Hurts

It’s impossible not to be profoundly moved as Tim Chester unwraps layer after layer of Paul’s most famous Christmas carol. Makes you wish it was already tomorrow to get on with the day’s reading. Simply wonderful. (And a great resource for planning carol services too!)

Dave Gobbett
Lead Minister, Highfields Church, and Word Alive trustee

Use this brilliant book for the 24 days leading up to Christmas and the season might be very different! Life changing insight into the true person of Jesus will also be yours as you read.

Peter Maiden
International Director Emeritus, Operation Mobilisation, and Minister at large, Keswick Ministries

‘The One True Gift’ is a series of 24 readings that work in the same way as an Advent calendar, except this is much more nutritious. With reflections on Philippians 2, Tim Chester takes us thoughtfully into bite sized verses to meditate in such a way that truth goes into us, when normally energy and goodwill drain from us. Christmas is for giving—but draw first from the wells of Philippians 2 with Tim, and you will have much more to give. A really nourishing resource that keeps the focus on Christ.

Steve James
Holy Trinity Platt, Manchester

The Christmas season can often be characterized by a time of increase: a frenzied pace, material splurges, and even personal grumbling. What often gets drowned out is a quiet and refreshing contemplation of timeless truth. In this short but accessible series of Advent devotions, Tim Chester invites us to go from muttering to marveling this Christmas by considering the most compelling man who ever lived, Jesus Christ.

Erik Raymond
Pastor and author of Gospel Shaped Outreach

The One True Gift is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. My previous advent books are The One True Light and The One True Story.

 

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New book – 2 Samuel for You

My book 2 Samuel for You is now out from the Good Book Company – following on from 1 Samuel for You. If you know the God’s Word for You series then you know what you’re getting. But here’s the blurb:

2 Samuel is a story of triumph and disaster, both personal and national. It is the account of the rise and fall and rise of a great king, David of Israel. But it is also the story of the God who rules his people, who forgives his people, and who promises to send the King whose greatest fall will bring our eternal rise. This accessible, absorbing expository guide opens up this book for new and mature Christians alike. It is less academic than a commentary, making it a great resource for personal devotion, as well as useful for leading small group studies or sermon preparation.

There is also an accompanying small group study guide in the Good Book Guides series called 2 Samuel: The Fall and Rise of the King.

2 Samuel for You is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

The Good Book Guide on 2 Samuel is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

Here’s a video of the Reformation song I wrote with Bob Kauflin

Bob Kauflin has posted a video of the song he and I wrote to mark the Reformation. The recording was made with the help of interns from Boice College.

 

Here’s the sheet music:

Reformation Song – CHART
Reformation Song – SATB
Reformation Song – LEAD SHEET

You can also download the song from CCLI SongSelect.

Bob says:

We’ll be celebrating the truths that were recovered in the Protestant Reformation for eternity. Salvation is in Christ alone, through faith alone, based on God’s Word alone, by grace alone, for the glory of God alone. And we can sing those truths any time. But during this month, the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, it’s particularly appropriate to remember how glorious our salvation through Jesus Christ alone really is. Our hope is that songs like these will give us one more way to do it.

 

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on everyday church

I’ve just been reading a draft of Jason Meyer’s forthcoming book, Lloyd-Jones on the Christian Life (Crossway). I was struck afresh by many things including how Lloyd-Jones anticipated some of our emphases in Everyday Church (that anticipated in the sense of got there ahead of us rather than saw us coming!). Here are three quotes I might well have put in Everyday Church had I read them (or re-read them) before writing it …

The first Christians conquered the ancient world just by being Christian. It was their love for one another and their type of life that made such an impact upon that pagan world, and there is no question but that this is the greatest need of the hour – the Christian quality of life being demonstrated among men and women. That is something to which we are all called and something which we can all do.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Life of Joy: An Exposition of Philippians 1 and 2, Baker, 1989, 22.

My dear friends, I say again that this is our unique opportunity at this time. That is what we stand for in a world that is so largely non-Christian. The way to convince the world of the truth of that gospel is to let them see that it makes a difference, that it is a power, that we are not mere theorists and philosophers but that we preach the power of God. And we prove that there is a power in the gospel by showing what we are in work, in business, in profession and in the home. Wherever we are, whatever we are, only let our citizenship be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Life of Joy: An Exposition of Philippians 1 and 2, Baker, 1989, 22.

Perhaps someone looking at me and seeing me enjoying the drudgery, and doing it with a finesse, and with a glamour and a glory that the world can never produce, may suddenly be convinced and convicted of sin, and may become an enquirer after the way of salvation. Get rid of the notion that you have to be preaching or teaching explicitly in order to evangelize. You can evangelize where you are, just as you are. You do it primarily by your life, by the way in which you do your daily work. You prove that you are a Christian in that way, because only a Christian can possibly do it in that way.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home and Work: An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, Banner of Truth, 1974, 358.

New book – Bible Matters: Meeting God in His Word

My latest book is Bible Matters: Meeting God in His Word is published in the UK by IVP next week as part of the Keswick Foundations Series. There is also a companion study guide entitled Hearing God’s Word. Both the book and the study guide are being published together in one volume in the US from InterVarsity Press in January 2018.

I shall be at the Keswick Convention next week so here’s an introduction to it.

It is, as the title suggests, a book on the Bible and covers a number of the issues you might expect – the authority, sufficiency, clarity and interpretation of the Bible. What’s distinctive is a focus on the relational and intentional (or covenantal) nature of the Bible. The Bible is not simply a book of information about God (though it is that). It is the means by which God through the Spirit meets with us and speaks to us. This relational and intentional nature of the Bible then sheds fresh light on the issues of authority, sufficiency, clarity and interpretation.

What struck me as I wrote it was that people today often pursue extra-biblical words or messages from God. I wonder if this is because too often we have treated the Bible as a lifeless repository of information. When we teach people to come to it expecting to hear God speak to them in a dynamic and relational way through the words its contains then maybe we might undercut the desire the extra-biblical words.

At some point I”ll post come commendations. In te meantime here’s the introduction …

Let me tell you about an amazing experience I had just this morning. Actually ‘amazing’ doesn’t really do it justice. It was out of this world.

This morning God spoke to me. I know that sounds weird, but I’m sure that’s what happened. The living God actually spoke to me. I could hear what he was saying just as clearly as you can understand what you’re reading now.

The words he spoke felt like words of life to me. They resounded deep in my heart. There were words of instruction that helped me know him more and understand his ways. There were words of challenge that called me to follow him better and love him more. There were words of comfort that spoke to my needs and gave me hope. It was like medicine to my soul. It was like a rousing speech before battle. It was like a love song sung to my heart.

What’s more, what happened to me this morning was not a freaky one-off experience. It’s what happens most mornings.

What I did this morning was read my Bible.

At this point you might be feeling like I’ve just pulled a fast one on you (unless, of course, you saw it coming a mile off). You were hoping for a dramatic story and what you got instead was daily Bible reading. ‘Boring!’

My number one aim for this book is this: I want you to realise that every time you read the Bible you’re hearing the voice of God – just as surely, more surely, than if you have some kind of dramatic experience. I want you to come to the Bible, whether you’re hearing it preached on a Sunday morning or reading it on the bus on a Monday morning, with a sense of anticipation and expectancy. Reading the Bible is a dramatic Spirit-filled experience. The God who spoke and brought the universe into existence speaks to you. The God whose voice thundered from Mount Sinai speaks to you. The God in Christ whose words healed the sick speaks to you.

I’ve read lots of things about the Bible that I’ve agreed with. But very few have captured how I feel about the Bible and why. That’s what I’ve tried to do in this book. It’s central premise is that the Bible is an intentional book. God gave it to us with a purpose in mind, and that purpose is to enter into, and live in, a relationship with his people. So the Bible is also a relational book. As we read the Bible, we don’t merely learn information about God – though that’s certainly true. We hear God’s voice and encounter his presence. This is a book about meeting God in his word.

I read my Bible regularly because I have to. Not ‘have to’ in the sense that someone might tell me off if I don’t or God will get miffed with me. But ‘have to’ in the same way I have to eat food everyday. This is how I live. Without God’s word in my life I too readily get preoccupied with myself, my fears, my insecurities, my reputation. Without God’s word I’m so much more vulnerable to temptation. I need God’s word to realign my heart day by day towards Jesus. I need that medicine for the soul, that battle speech, that love song.

Michael’s Sunday Sing Along

My friend Michael Tinker is [SPOILER ALERT] the man behind Inspector Smart. And he’s just produced a digital album of Christian songs for children based on his Inspector Smart albums but without the banter, with two new songs and various extras to make them useable by families and churches. It’s called Michael’s Sunday Sing Along and you can listen online at Bandcamp.

Here’s a sample …

 

My book Inspector Smart and the Case of the Empty Tomb was written to accompany the first Inspector Smart tour and album. It’s available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

Why I wrote Rediscovering Joy

In 2015 I was invited to speak at the Bournemouth and Poole Bible Convention – which starts today. The organisers wanted the Reformation to be the major focus of the Convention in 2017 because this year marks the 500th anniversary of the nailing of 95 theses by Martin Luther to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517. No movement starts with just one act, but this has justifiably become the iconic start of the Reformation.

But the Convention organisers were also keen to retain their normal emphasis on expository Bible ministry. So they wanted me to talk about the Reformation and preach the Bible. My initial reaction was to think they were asking me to do two different things. Perhaps I should force them to choose. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that looking at the Scriptures would be a great way to think about what the Reformation stood for and stands far. After all, letting God speak through his word was at the heart of the Reformation project.

So was conceived the idea of a three-way conversation between Paul in first-century Galatia, the Reformation in sixteenth-century Europe and us today. We would explore how the central ideas of the Reformation were rooted in the Scriptures and how those ideas continue to be relevant to us today.

It was also clear from the beginning that my central theme would be joy. That was the issue in Galatia. The church had lost its joy. Paul asks them, ‘Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then?’ (Galatians 4:15 NLT). I also wanted to show how the Reformation was not some arcane theological dispute. It, too, was about rediscovering joy by rediscovering the gospel. And that message is as important today as it was then. It’s all too easy for Christian service to be dreary and dutiful.

So this book is two things which are really one thing: a simple introduction to the message of the Reformation and an invitation to rediscover the joy of knowing God through faith alone in Christ alone.

Rediscovering Joy is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

New book: Rediscovering Joy: The Dynamic Power of the Reformation in Galatians

I have a new short guide to the Reformation entitled Rediscovering Joy. The books offers a three-way conversation between 1st-century Galatia, 16th-century Europe and the 21st-century church with a focus on how the gospel joy rediscovered in the Reformation was rooted in the message of the New Testament and has power to change our lives today.

Rediscovering Joy is published in the UK later this month by IVP and in the US in Spring 2018 by Crossway.

Rediscovering Joy is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

A new Reformation song with Bob Kauflin

I’ve written a new song with Bob Kauflin to express some of the key truths of the Reformation. It’s a song that can be sung at any time, but this October is the 500th anniversary of Luther’s 95 theses so we hope it might serve to mark the occasion.

The truths of the Reformation are often summarised as five ‘solas’ (from the Latin word for ‘alone’): Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone and to the glory of God alone (soli Deo gloria). Each verse takes one of these solas as its theme with the fifth sola (glory to God alone) forming the basis of the chorus. There’s also an optional fifth verse which can be sung on Reformation Sunday – the nearest Sunday to the 31st October.

The lyrics are below. Here’s a link to a lead sheet and chord chart. Bob has also recorded a demo which you can download here.

 

Your word alone is solid ground,
the mighty rock on which we build.
In every line the truth is found,
and every page with glory filled.

2. Through faith alone we come to you,
we have no merit we can claim,
sure that your promises are true,
we place our hope in Jesus’ name.

     Gloria, gloria, glory to God alone.
     Gloria, gloria, glory to God alone.

3. In Christ alone we’re justified,
his righteousness is all our plea.
Your law’s demands are satisfied,
his perfect work has set us free.

     Gloria, gloria, glory to God alone.
     Gloria, gloria, glory to God alone.

4. By grace alone we have been saved,
all that we are has come from you.
Hearts that were once by sin enslaved,
now by your pow’r have been made new.

     Gloria, gloria, glory to God alone.
     Gloria, gloria, glory to God alone.

Optional final verse for Reformation Sunday:
And on this Reformation day
we join with saints of old to sing;
we lift our hearts as one in praise:
Glory to Christ our gracious King.

Tim Chester and Bob Kauflin

© Copyright 2017 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI). Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Churches. All Rights Reserved.

Q&A on Exodus for You

I was recently did an email interview on Exodus for You.

1. What previous research and/or personal interests led you to this project and helped prepare you to write this commentary on Exodus?

I had been doing some working on the theme of new exodus in biblical theology so it was a great opportunity to explore the foundations of that theme in the original exodus. But I was also keen to get into the detail of the building of the tabernacle – the (large) section of the book of Exodus that is so often ignored. In particular I had some hunches about its link to creation that I wanted to pursue. Above all, I love preaching Old Testament narrative because it allows you to preach Christ in fresh ways.

 

2. Who is the intended audience for this commentary? Would it benefit pastors? professors? students? lay Christians in the local church?

I think of the God’s Word for You series as ‘expository guides’, although there is a commitment to cover every verse. I guess my two main audiences were Christians wanting something to guide their personal reading of Exodus and pastors wanting help as they seek to preach Christ from the Old Testament.

 

3. What is unique about this commentary? What contribution does it make to the study of Exodus?

The commentary reflects a strong commitment to Christ-centred biblical theology. That means looking forward to the fulfilment of exodus, law and tabernacle in Jesus. But it also involves looking back to creation and Adam to see how exodus, law and tabernacle function as a blueprint for the renewal creation in Christ.

 

4. What section or passage of this commentary was particularly memorable to research and write? Why?

I particularly enjoyed working on the descriptions of the tabernacle and seeing their connection back to creation and on to Christ. It was great to be able to rehabilitate the best of an older tradition of exposition in this area. Also, the meal of Exodus 24 connected with previous work I’ve done in my book, A Meal with Jesus (IVP/Crossway). I also loved working on the parting of the Red Sea and making the connections to the ‘baptism’ of Jesus at the cross and to Christian baptism. It allows us to present salvation as moment of high drama.

 

5. What personally edified you in writing this commentary, increasing your affections for Christ?

Surprising as it may seem, it was probably description of fixtures and fittings! The fixtures and fittings of the tabernacle signal God’s intent to dwell among his people in a new creation and they point to how Christ will accomplish this. I loved tracing the connections between the cloud that shrouded Mount Sinai and the altar of incense – which was basically a cloud-making machine in the tabernacle – both of which are designed to shroud the consuming glory of God. This then sets the scene for the ascension of Jesus in which he passes through that cloud into the presence of God on our behalf.

 

6. Besides your commentary, what are your top recommended books (commentaries or otherwise) on Exodus?

The technical commentary I found most helpful was Exodus by John Mackay, published by the Mentor imprint of Christian Focus. It’s a good introduction to the meaning of the Hebrew text without expecting you to know Hebrew.

 

7. What’s next for you? What project are you currently working on? How can people follow your work and ministry?

I’ve written 2 Samuel for You so that will be coming out soon to accompany my book, 1 Samuel for You. And I’m in the middle of working on Revelation for You. I have a couple of other books coming out soon. Rediscovering Joy is an introduction to the message of the Reformation in the form a three-way conversation between the Reformers in 16th-century Europe, Paul in 1st-century Galatia and us today. It’s published by IVP in the UK and Crossway in the US. The second book is Bible Matters, an introduction to the doctrine of Scripture with a particular focus on the relational nature of Scripture as the place in which we hear God’s voice. It’s published by IVP in the UK and InterVarsity in the US.

Exodus for You is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. as well as thegoodbook.com, thegoodbook.co.uk and  thegoodbook.com.au.

This interview was conducted for the up-coming website http://www.bestbiblecommentaries.com.