Book review
The Gospel-Driven Life

Full description of book:
Michael S. Horton, The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World, (Grand Rapids, MI, USA: Baker Books, 2009). ISBN 978-0-8010-1319-5.

Review:

This book by Prof. Michael Horton is his sequel to another excellent book, Christless Christianity. In this book, Horton addresses the issue of the Gospel and how it is supposed to function in the life of the individual believer and the Church, from a distinctively Reformed perspective. Accordingly, Horton addresses various errors that are found within the contemporary Evangelical churches, and posits an alternative system which is refreshingly biblical and consistently based on the truths of the Gospel Sola Fide Sola Gratia.

The book is written in an easy-to-understand style, being divided into two sections. The first section "Looking Up, Looking Out: Breaking News" details for us individual Christians what the Gospel actually is, and how it should be impacting our lives.The second section "Looking Around, Looking Ahead: A Cross-Cultural Community" details the implication of the Gospel message in building the Church. In both of these sections, the biblical and Reformed understanding of the Gospel and its implications for our lives are laid out in contrast especially with the popular misconceptions found in the Evangelical churches.

The Gospel

In his presentation of the Gospel, Horton does not shrink back from proclaiming the biblical Gospel of sin and the wrath of God against sin. Linking it with evangelism, Horton writes a damning indictment against the modern day Evangelicalism, stating that "If "people today" find the preaching and teaching of sin and the cross irrelevant, it is only because we, like Israel, have dulled their sense of God's holiness and righteousness." (p. 51) The emphasis in Horton's presentation of the Gospel is refreshing indeed, centering its focus where it should be — the doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone.

To receive the Light, we must have our darkness exposed; to be clothed in Christ's righteousness, we must acknowledge our righteousness as filthy rags; to live in Christ, we must die to our former identity. (p. 125)

Moving on to the interaction between the drama, the doctrine, doxology and discipleship, Horton shows how the elements of Scripture and the Christian life are linked

It is the story that gives rise to doctrine, so without the former, the latter becomes abstract and timeless principles. (p. 96)

I have mentioned before that Scripture integrates drama, doctrine, doxology and discipleship in way we easily overlook. Christian faith and practice arise first of all out of a dramatic narrative: the unfolding plot of redemption from Genesis to Revelation. This story gives rise to doctrine: specific conclusions that God himself reveals as to the meaning and implications of this divine drama. The doctrines provoke us to faith, wonder, and praise. Our sails filled with the gust of grace; we sail out of the harbor into the wide open spaces of the world, loving and serving our neighbors in thanksgiving and joy. Without the biblical drama, the doctrine is abstract; without the doctrine, the doxology is much ado about nothing; without the doxology (shaped by the drama and the doctrine), discipleship is just another makeover: a few more fig leaves to conceal our nakedness. (p. 156. Bold added)

Each element has its part to play. Removing any part in this scheme would render the other parts deficient in some way or another for us. The rampant anti-intellectualism and anti-dogmatism that plagues the modern church cripples the other aspects of the message and application of the Scriptures. Without doctrine, the drama is merely narrative without form and purpose, doxology is vacuous "much ado about nothing", and discipleship becomes merely mentorship for life improvement, and this is what we unfortunately see in modern Evangelicalism.

Apologetics and the Gospel presentation

The ancient church flourished in a pagan environment not only because its members were willing to die for their faith but because they were willing to argue for it. (p. 261)

The anti-intellectualism and anti-dogmatism of modern Evangelicalism has all but sapped the visible Church of her strength. Instead of "contending for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3), modern Evangelicals are contented with being "nice" and "winsome"; non-confrontational and "loving"; emulating the "gentle Christ". Confusing motives with attitudes with actions, the vigorous art of theological polemics has almost become a lost art and whoever practices it is almost bound to be demonized and ostracized. Yet that is the biblical method which few it seems have the stomach for.

Focusing on the primacy of the intellect and the necessity of defending the faith, Horton states:

The gospel is counterintuitive to our moral reasoning as sinners, not to reason itself. (p. 261)

Lazy minds breed lazy hearts and hands. Presupposing the naturalistic worldview of their neighbors, liberalism assumed that religion inhabits the realm of inner mystical experience and universal morality. Why would anyone feel compelled to consider Christian claims if their would-be-defenders either denied them or denied intellectual access to them? The greatest threat to Christianity is never vigorous intellectual criticism but a creeping senility that transforms truths into feelings, public claims into private experiences, and facts into mere values. Christianity is either true or false, but it is not irrational. If its claims are not objectively true, then they are not subjectively useful. If our only reason for believing that Jesus is alive is that "he lives within my heart," then, as Paul said, "our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." "We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we have testified about God that he raised Christ. ... If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied" (1 Cor. 15:14-19). We must recover our distinctively biblical commitment to rigorous, inquisitive, and persuasive thinking before there can be a genuine renewal of Christian conviction, faith, repentance, and discipleship. It is time once again to love God with our minds. (p. 262)

But if Christian dogma is irrelevant to life, to what, in Heaven's name, is it relevant? — since religious dogma is in fact nothing but a statement of doctrines concerning the nature of life and the universe. If Christian ministers really believe it is only an intellectual game for theologians and has no bearing on human life, it is no wonder that their congregations are ignorant, bored, and bewildered. (p. 263, quoting Dorothy Sayers)

The evangelical emphasis on the reality of the "inner life" of spirituality is a violation of God's command to love Him with our minds. Christianity is objectively and absolutely true — on the same level as Maths and Logic, and above Science. Until we truly realize that Christianity is mostly about truth not feelings, inner "spirituality" tendencies will remain and anti-intellectualism will be the order of the day.

Missiology and Contextualization

Horton here discussed the issue of contextualization in a paragraph as follows:

Brad Kallenberg probably speaks for many evangelicals today when he writes, "No longer is the belief in God or the deity of Christ or the authority and inspiration of Scripture standard. In other words, we need to do as missionaries do: become students of the host culture so we can discover how God's Spirit intends the Gospel to become in the new era. Missiologists call this contextualization." However, this is not what missionaries did or do, at least when they are faithful to their calling. Right where Kallenberg says, "becomes students of the host culture," we must say, "become students of the Word." Right where he switches the tracks from Jesus Christ to our "incarnation" of the gospel, we need to switch them back to the only one who embodies the gospel. If people do not know the gospel, we need to proclaim it, teach it, administer it, and allow our lives to be shaped by its declarative power. Implied in Kallenberg's appeal is the possibility that the Spirit works differently, either in the content or methods employed (or perhaps both), depending on the "host culture." However, the Spirit has no other word than the unchanging gospel and no other means than those ordained by Jesus Christ. I [Horton] am all for understanding our context, but this must include a theological analysis deeply grounded in Scripture, which names all of our "contexts" as hostile to the Good News and the reign of Christ. (p. 257)

REFUTING HERESIES

In the course of the book, Horton deals with at least two important movements infecting the Evangelical churches today: the Purpose Driven paradigm, and Contemplative Spirituality.

Purpose Driven paradigm

A glance at the title of Horton's book reveals an eerie similarity with a particular best-seller — Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life. In Horton's book itself, allusions can be found throughout the book, with Horton repeating Warren's famous slogan "deeds [rather than] creeds" (p. 99, cf. 263) as an example of mere practical exhortations which are Law not Gospel.

Chapter 6 is entitled The Promise-Driven Life, and it is in there where the PD life paradigm is either overtly attacked or undermined.

In mentioning, and lightly undermining the PD life paradigm, Horton states:

As evidenced by Rick Warren's phenomenal bestseller, The Purpose -Driven Life, the passion for meaning and purpose has not been extinguished by the daily grind or by the unrelenting buzz of our consumer culture. While affirming the importance of having clear goals and worthy focus in life, I am urging us to put purpose in their place, as servants of promise. No longer under the law's condemnation, the justified are free now to respond to God's commands out of thanksgiving for the God whose character it displays and out of love for our neighbors. The gospel saves us, giving us a reason to walk through the wilderness to the promised land, and the law guides us, giving us directions for that journey. Christians are driven by God's promises, and directed by God's purposes. (p. 133)

It can be seen that we are NOT to driven by God's purposes. If purpose is analogous to Law, while promise is analogous to Gospel, then by implication, a life driven by purpose is driven by Law, in other words, Legalism.

Horton further remarks on this contrast between law/purpose and gospel/promise:

The law cannot create faith because it tells us what is to be done. It can only announce to those who transgress it what they have not done; consequently, it brings despair in its wake. The promise, by contrast, tells us what has been done by someone else. That is why it brings life. (p. 139)

And finally, attacking the PD life paradigm:

When we really understand justification, we really understand how God works with us in every aspect of our lives before him. Christ lived the purpose-driven life so that we would inherit his righteousness through faith and be promise-driven people in a purpose-driven world. (p. 141)

The purpose-driven life is a life of works-righteousness. Only Christ can live the purpose-driven life, fulfilling all righteousness for His people. The world tries to be purpose-driven, and in so doing heaps up wrath upon itself since all men's righteousness are as filthy rags before God. The PD paradigm therefore is of the world and operates on the same principle of works that is antithetical to grace and true biblical faith.

Moving on, under chapter 8 "How the Good News Creates a Cross-Cultural Community", under the section "The Promise-Driven Church", Horton addresses a couple of issue including the idea of the inclusion of children in the covenant, which is an interesting topic altogether but I digress. Horton undermines the entire PD enterprise, and finally attacks the marketing strategy both the Seeker Sensitive and the PD paradigm uses.

On the issue of being ambassadors for Christ:

... it is a promise that the church is called to deliver on God's behalf and in Christ's name. Ambassadors do not send themselves, write up their own job description, and then formulate their own policies. God already has his plans figured out. He has already elected the citizens-to-be of his kingdom, sent his Son to redeem them, and poured his Spirit out on them and within them, so that they come joyfully to his feast. (p. 205)

In other words, the Church and Christians have no right whatsoever to change God's message or "do ministry" in whatever way they think is right. This extends also to individual Christians, who are to conform their lives and witness to the precepts of Scripture. In the Christian walk, God is not a pragmatist; working for a commendable goal (ie a desire to see men repent and believe the Gospel) with pure motives even does not allow one to cut corners and practice whatever methodology one thinks is best to achieve that commendable goal.

Regarding the focus on friends and socializing in church, especially as focused on the young (the "Youth Ministry" - Purpose Driven Youth Ministry?):

... fellowship often takes the form of the niche marketing ... We may still call it fellowship, but it may be closer to socializing. There is nothing wrong with socializing. Clubs are fine. There is a time and place for hanging out with people with similar tastes, interests, and hobbies. However, Christian homes and churches are the only institutes in which our children will learn to find themselves in God's story. When they are united more by the trends of pop culture than by the faith and practice of the whole church in all times and places, our youth become victims of our sloth. We should not be surprised that over half of those reared in evangelical homes and churches today do not join or even attend a church regularly when they go off to college. If we are going to see our children grow up into Christ instead of abandoning the church, our spiritual life at home and in the church must incorporate them into the teaching and fellowship of the apostolic faith. They can find "ministry opportunities" through United Way, the Peace Corps, or Habitat for Humanity. They can find friends at the fraternity or sorority. They can find intellectual stimulation in class. And they can find a sense of meaning and purpose in their vacations. If their home churches exchanged the ministry of preaching and teaching the apostles' doctrine for a variety of ministries and activities that they could find legitimate versions in the world, then it is difficult to come up with a reasonable answer when they ask, "Why do I need the church?" (pp. 207-208)

On the goodness of diversity in the church:

I [Horton] tend to pray for the same things over and over again and these requests sound a lot like those of other Christians in my same age-group and demographic profile. Throw in some prayers from older and younger saints, from people who are richer and poorer, black, Latino, Asian, and European, and now my prayers become part of the prayers of the church. Once again, my narrow horizon of self-enclosed existence is opened up to a cross-centered and cross-cultural communion. (p. 208)

And finally, the case against the marketing that makes up the most part of Seeker-sensitive, Purpose Driven "outreach" methodology:

There are perfectly good reasons to target a particular niche-demographic for a marketing campaign. It all depends on what one is trying to do. A quick return on an investment, with the recognition that the product will become obsolete and therefore lack long-term profits, is one way of doing business. In that case, you'll want to make the product as attractive as possible not only to a narrow slice of consumers, but to a narrow slice of consumers who will soon move on to other fashions. The covenant of grace, on the other hand, is passed on "from generation to generation". Selling a product to the hot prospects is different from receiving a heritage from a previous generation and passing it down to the next. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, the Scriptures remind us, and only the kingdom that God is building will remain (Heb. 12:27-28). The churches that become slaves of the market are made of hay, wood, and stubble, while those built on the apostolic foundation of gold, silver, and costly stones will remain (1 Cor. 3:5-17) (p. 209)

Amen. This is one of the reasons why niche-marketing the church will never work, because the church is build for eternity not for a season, even if one were to overlook the doctrine of total depravity in the first place.

Contemplative Spirituality

In the same chapter undermining the Purpose-Driven Life, in chapter 6 the Promise-Driven Life, Horton devotes a significant portion to discussing the Contemplative Spirituality movement, especially interacting with its chief proponent Quaker mystic Richard Foster.

Horton starts off by mentioning Foster's disclosure of his "spiritual formation agenda" in "a recent Christianity Today article". In that article, Foster is quoted as lamenting the lack of growth in Christians because "having saved by grace, these people have become paralyzed by it" (p. 146). The suggested solution to such spiritual apathy accordingly is to

... "do all we can to develop the ecclesiola in ecclesia — 'the little church within the church,' " referring to the examples of Lutheran pietism's collegia pietatis, John Wesley's "holy clubs," and the "inner mission" of the Norwegian pietists. As Foster observes, these Protestants movements have their roots in the heritage of Catholic spirituality, identified especially with Francis of Assisi, Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Thomas à Kempis. (cited in p. 146)

Horton states however that he is not going to "tackle the question of spiritual discipline [per se]" here in this book. "Rather, it is to interact with the paradigm of sanctification (the Christian life) as chiefly the imitation of Christ" (p. 147).

Horton starts off by commending Foster's worry about the Antinomianism present in the church and the eclipse of the holiness of God therein. Also,

... Foster is right that there is also a kind of "cheap grace" that fulfils the fond dreams of the antinomian who comforts himself with the syllogism: "God likes to forgive, I like to sin: what a great relationship!" Even if we eschew antinomianism, there is a kind of laziness that does not revel equally in the "already" of new life in Christ and the "not yet" of its consummation. (p. 147)

That having being said, Horton tackles the fundamental errors of the "spiritual formation agenda" in its view of the Christian life: namely confusing works and grace, and justification and sanctification (thus committing the same error as Rome).

But I'm [Horton] not sure how directing people to greater concentration on themselves is going to overcome the narcissistic captivity of our times. As Thomas Finer has documented in A Contemporary Anabaptist Theology, the Anabaptists — whose leaders were trained by the Brethren of the Common Life [of which Thomas à Kempis was formative in its development] — were no more interested in the justification of the ungodly than Rome. The whole emphasis was on discipleship, defined as the imitation of Christ.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola are of a similar orientation. Ignatius founded the Jesuit order for the express purpose of opposing the Reformation. Through not without occasional praise, Luther saw his experience with the Brethren of the Common Life as encouraging a theology of glory: ascending to God through works and mysticism. Calvin looked upon his schooling at the ascetic Collège de Montaigu as "servile labor" under the burden of severe regulations and no gospel, while Ignatius recalled fondly his time there as a student. (pp. 147-148)

We can notice the contrast that is already in the process of forming. The "spiritual formation agenda" has its roots in Catholic pietistic mysticism with its emphasis on "discipleship" so-called, and is a "theology of glory" being focused with trying to bring themselves up to Christ and God by their own works of piety, instead of the Reformational emphasis on Justification by grace alone through faith alone, apart from works.

Horton continues to differentiate the counterfeit "spiritual disciplines" from the biblical "means of grace" as follows:

It is striking ... that Luther, Calvin, and other reformers — many of whom (like Luther himself) were former monks — did not throw out the baby out with the bathwater. Sharply critical of using monastic rituals to ascend a ladder to God, they nevertheless held private as well as public prayer in the highest possible estimation. Luther thought that the busier he was in a given day, the more he needed to prepare for it through earnest prayer and reading of Scripture. The Puritans not only wrote sermons and doctrinal treatises, but devotional guides, meditations, and books of prayers. ...

The issue is not whether we engage in personal disciplines or habits of meditative prayer and reading of Scripture, but whether we do so in a gospel-driven manner. Is it a technique for personal transformation or is it a saving and sanctifying encounter with the Triune God who has met us in his incarnate Son? Are we working toward our justification or from it? Are we being drawn to look outside of ourselves, to Christ, or are we feeding our natural tendency to focus on ourselves and our inner life? Obviously, if the significance of Jesus Christ lies principally in his offering a moral example, faith in Christ is not absolutely necessary. ... We do not need an incarnate, righteousness fulfilling, curse-bearing, resurrected Savior if salvation comes by imitation. (pp. 148-149. Bold added)

The difference between the sanctification paradigm of Foster and those who promote Contemplative Spirituality (CS) on the one side, and the Reformation paradigm on the other, is that between life and death; light and darkness; Salvation and Damnation. The CS paradigm brings one back under the Law in working for one's salvation, and thus denies the true biblical Gospel which alone saved. Contemplative Spirituality therefore is soul-damning and potentially brings its adherents (and most definitely its recalcitrant proponents) under the anathema of God (Gal. 1:8-9)!

Continuing on:

... Augustinians recognized that defining salvation or the Christian life as the imitation of Christ (imitatio Christi) presupposes a woefully inadequate doctrine of sin and therefore of God's saving grace in Christ.

... the reformers recognized that grace is first and foremost God's favor toward sinners on account of Christ. This "justice" or "righteousness" by which we stand accepted in God's presence is imputed, not infused; declared immediately, not progressively recognized. At the same time, they just as strongly affirmed that God's Word does what it says. Everyone whom God declares to be righteous is also progressively sanctified. (p. 149)

... Nowhere in this lodestar passage [Rom. 7] for the Christian life does Paul direct our attention to the imitation of Christ. He has already painted too dark (realistic) a picture of human depravity to imagine that the devil, the world, and our sinful hearts could meet their match in our deeper commitment to follow Christ's example. ... He calls us not simply to imitate Christ but to be crucified, buried, and raised with him. ... But before he speaks an imperative, he announces the indicative of the gospel: Christ's saving work has accomplished far more than we imagined. (p. 150)

The CS paradigm is based upon a Pelagian or semi-Pelagian view of Man which trivializes the doctrine of the sinfulness of Man, while the biblical paradigm acknowledges the Total Depravity and Sinfulness of Man.

The "imitation of Christ" paradigm of spirituality makes Christ's self-sacrifice and humility an analogy for our discipleship. The "union with Christ" paradigm makes our love and service an analogy of Christ's inimitable accomplishment. Being in Christ is the perpetual source of our becoming like Christ, not vice versa (p. 152)

Apart from the imputation of righteousness, sanctification is simply another religious self-improvement program determined by the powers of this age (the flesh) rather than of the age to come (the Spirit). (p. 153)

The CS paradigm reverses the order of the indicative and the imperative, and therefore is purely of Man, therefore it is repugnant to God.

The entire thrust of Contemplative Spirituality is one of works righteousness. It attempts by its own strength to climb up to God, and thus it is contrary to the Gospel. Contemplative Spirituality is anti-Reformation and anti-God, and thus not to be practised by Christians.

Conclusion

This book by Horton is indeed an excellent book, which is easy to read and reasonably easy to understand. It is highly recommended for growing Christians who have some grounding in the truths of God's Word.