I've been reading Mark Batterson's blog for awhile now (I've linked to several of his posts in the past), and following his progress as he was writing and preparing In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. Mark is the lead pastor at National Community Church in DC, which meets for worship in movie theaters around the DC area.

I was already planning on buying a copy, but he mentioned several weeks ago that his publisher, Multinomah, would be giving some copies away at Catalyst. I managed to score a free copy early the first day of Catalyst.

The title of the book, and much of the contents, are centered around a relatively obscure character in the Bible. While not quite as obscure as Jabez, Benaiah doesn't get much "screen time" in the Bible. But the mentions he does get are pretty impressive:

There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two of Moab's mightiest warriors. Another time he chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. Another time, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with it. (2 Samuel 23:20-21)

Benaiah was eventually in charge of David's bodyguards, then a commander in the army, then eventually the command in chief of the army of Israel. But his success began when he chased a lion into a pit.

Mark argues that we miss too many of God's opportunities for us, according to what we focus on:

I think the church has fixated on sins of commission for far too long. We have long list of don'ts. Think of it as holiness by subtraction. We think holiness is the byproduct of subtracting something from our lives that shouldn't be there. And holiness certainly involves subtraction. But I think God is more concerned about sins of omission - those things we could have and should have done. It's holiness by multiplication. Goodness is not the absence of badness. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Those who simply run away from sin are half-Christians. Our calling is much higher than simply running away from what's wrong. We're called to chase lions.

What I love about this book is that it captures what I've loved about Mark's blog so well. It's full of challenges to the church at large to think very differently.

There are basically two approaches to life: playing to win and playing not to lose. Can you guess which camp lion chasers fall into? Too many of us are tentatively playing the game of life as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. We need to take our cues from the early believers who competed for the Kingdom.

"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it."

There is nothing remotely passive about following Christ. Some of us approach our relationship with Christ like we're called to play a "prevent defense" when we ought to be in a "two-minute offense." Some of us act like faithfulness is making no turnovers when faithfulness is scoring touchdowns. Faithfulness has nothing to do with maintaining the status quo or holding the fort. It has everything to do with competing for the Kingdom and storming the gates of Hell...

Jesus commissioned the church in Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it."

Gates are defenseive devices. Storming those gates requires offensive measures. Think of the church as a battering ram.

This book is a great challenge to move forward, and pursue the opportunities that God places before us.

Labels: books, church