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"Sibbes never wastes the student's time," wrote 19th century preacher C.H. Spurgeon, "he scatters pearls and diamonds with both hands." The Bruised Reed, written by Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) in 1630, lives up to Spurgeon's words. I can tell a lot about a book by how many pages I've dog-eared. In this 128-page book, I found it hard to go more than a few pages without marking a page for future reference.

The Bruised Reed is an exposition of Isaiah 42:1-3:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.

Sibbes outlines what it means to be a bruised reed, and the benefits of being bruised. A bruised reed represents us in our weakness. It's necessary to be bruised even after we have grown. "After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks." Christ is not at all impatient with our weaknesses. "He is a physician good at all diseases, especially at the binding up of a broken heart." "No sound, whole soul," after all, "shall ever enter into heaven."

Sibbes also describes what it is to be smoking flax. Smoking flax represents the mixture of grace and sinfulness that exists in all who love God. "In God's children, especially in their first conversion, there is but a little measure of grace, and that little mixed with much corruption, which, as smoke, is offensive; but...Christ will not quench this smoking flax." We should not be discouraged by our weakness. The reality is that even "the purest actions of the purest man need Christ to perfume them." But Christ does indeed perfume us, and a little grace is enough. "Nothing in the world is of so good use as the least grain of grace."

Humility allows us to understand ourselves rightly, and then magnify God's name that he loves us such as we are. It also helps us to understand others who are weak when we remember our own weakness. "The Holy Spirit," he writes, "is content to dwell in smokey, offensive souls."

Sibbes constantly drives our attention to Christ, who "bestows the best fruits of his love on persons who are mean in condition, weak in abilities, and offensive for infirmities, nay, for grosser falls." The strength of this book is that it clearly outlines our weakness, and then expounds the gospel in a way that meets our greatest needs and provides hope even as we continue to encounter more of our weakness.

Oh, what confusion this is to Satan, that he should labor to blow out a poor spark and yet should not be able to quench it; that a grain of mustard seed should be stronger than the gates of hell; that it should be able to remove mountains of oppositions and temptations cast up by Satan and our rebellious hearts between God and us...It must needs be a torment to Satan that a weak child, a woman, a decrepit old man should, by a spirit of faith, put him to flight.

One striking feature of this book: Sibbes often takes aim at "popery." If you have not read a book of this vintage recently, some of these quips will seem surprising, even if one agrees with Sibbes. The book is a product of a different day than ours. Such differences in older books are good, because they force us to think through the way we assume things should be.

I read this book as part of the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge. If the other books are half as good as this one, I'm in for a good year of reading. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, "The Bruised Reed...quietened, soothed, comforted, encouraged, and healed me." It just may do the same for you.

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God hates religion. He even the Christian religion, according to The End of Religion, written by Bruxy Cavey. Cavey is a popular speaker and teaching pastor of The Meeting House, a rapidly growing multi-site church in the Toronto area.

According to Cavey, we have forgotten that the Bible is a "holy hand grenade" which points to the coming of Jesus, who put an end to religion and leads us to a "non-institutional, deeply relational approach to Scripture." The End of Religion is written for skeptics and seekers who are tired of religion but would like to connect with God.

Cavey defines religion as "any reliance on systems or institutions as our conduit to God." He outlines the legacy of religion, which he calls a "Chamber of Horrors." The Christian religion gets its own chapter. "Eventually, the institutional church severed itself from its head [Christ] and, in the process, became one of the most violent religions in history." The chapter does not mention any of the positive contributions of Christianity.

Cavey's solution is a radical commitment to the teachings of Jesus. In his ministry, Jesus contested the popular understanding of the main identity markers of the religion of his time. He overrode Torah by breaking its rules, trounced tradition, undid tribalism, redefined Temple, and subverted symbols. According to Cavey, religion died when the veil of the Temple was torn in two at the death of Jesus.

As a result, "religion does not bring us closer to God – it gets in the way." We live by love instead of law, and guard against dependence on tradition and routine.

Cavey raised several issues in my mind he did not fully answer: for instance, the role of the Law under grace. I am not sure everyone will agree with his dichotomy of spirituality and religion – others define religion as a system of faith and worship, which would include, I suppose, Christian spirituality. I also wonder if some will read "The End of Religion" as "The End of Church" when Cavey is really calling us to a Biblical view of church as the people of God.

Nevertheless, The End of Religion is provocative and easy to read. Cavey does a good job of showing how scandalous Jesus' teaching and actions were to the religious people of his day, and reminds us of the centrality of relationship with God through Christ. His book is an effective invitation to those who are turned off by dead religion, and a wake-up call to those who may be "Christian" but have missed Jesus.

Note: This review covers the original self-published version of The End of Religion, published by Essence Publishing. A new version is being released by Navpress in August 2007. Links to the new version are below.

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In 1992, Frank Viola had an epiphany. "All the sermons I had heard since I was a child faded dead away. They were profoundly eclipsed by the sight of a peerless worth. By God's grace, I caught a wondrous glimpse into what Paul called the eternal purpose (Eph. 3:11)." Discovering God's purpose freed Viola from a me-centered gospel, but ironically it allowed him to find his own purpose within God's.

God's Ultimate Passion outlines three themes or tales. Put together, Viola says that they embody God's story - "the great interpretive narrative by which we may better understand the Bible, the Christian life, and our world."

The three themes are:

• God's ultimate passion is to obtain a Bride for the Eternal Son.
• God's ultimate passion is to obtain a home for the Everlasting Father.
• God's ultimate passion is to create a new species - the body of Christ and the family of God.

Viola takes his readers on a tour through Scripture in each of these themes.

I appreciate the passion within this book. Viola won't settle for reciting abstract truths. I don't think he's written a page in this book that isn't filled with passion. He's clearly excited about these themes, and you can't miss it.

I also appreciate the desire to see the overarching message of the Bible. Too often we atomize the Scripture. It's great to see someone develop the central themes by focusing on God's passion.

Many readers will see Scriptures in a new way in this book. Viola picks up on details I may have missed, and he sees them in fresh ways. I'm not always sold on his conclusions. For instance, Viola argues that while God is perfectly adequate within Himself, he created us because He was lonely - always a controversial assertion.

He sometimes allegorizes. For instance, he says that we were the girl inside God, just as Eve was the woman inside Adam. "There was a girl inside of God before time. And you and I are part of that girl." Interesting parallel, and I know what he's saying - but I think he's overreaching.

Viola also expresses his anti-institutitonal bent throughout the book. While I share some of his frustrations, I'm not as ready to write off established congregations and institutions. God can work even there.

There is a debate about identifying the central themes of Scripture. Viola's themes certainly are important, but I don't think they're the final word. Other themes like the kingdom of God, the mission of God (missio Dei), and the redemption of all creation also need to be emphasized.

At times, the passion of the book made it hard to read with exclamation marks! and italics. However, I do enjoy the passion and clarity of this book.

I've checked other reviews, and God's Ultimate Passion seems to have touched many readers. If you're interested in an overview of some important themes of Scripture, or you want to recapture some excitement about God's eternal purposes, this may be a book that you'll enjoy reading.

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