As Christians, we have access to tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of books. Over
the long storied course of Christian history, all of these books have been written and over
time, some of them have been filtered. We know now, these are the best of the Christian
books, the best books ever written. I think a lot of us have a great desire to read those
books, but find that practically our ability to read them isn't so good. We want to read
them, but we don't have the self-discipline. We maybe don't have the ... even the great
desire to actually make it happen. I certainly found this was true in my life. I'd look to
some of my Christian heroes and the books that made them who they were, and I thought,
I want to read that book. And I'd get a couple of chapters in and just sort of forget about
it and move on to other things.
So I started a program called Reading Classics Together and put it out on the blog, invited
other people, come read these books with me. That provides a kind of accountability, so
we'll read these books together. It provides a bit of community, we can engage, we can
talk about some of these things. Since that first one years ago, we've read all sorts
of amazing Christian classics together. I think it's time to read a new one. I'm inviting
you to read a Christian classic with me.
Now here's the one we're going to be reading this time around. It's called Holy Helps
for a Godly Life, written by the Puritan, Richard Rogers. This is a new edition, a new
book brought out by Reformation Heritage Books. Now, when you read Puritan books you see,
something's often the case, they're often very, very large works that have then been
distilled down to something a little bit easier to read. And that's the case with this, this
was once a very, very long book. The editors have shortened it down, taken just one part
of that book and turned it into this little booklet. They've also done some light editing
to add some headings, to smooth out some of the language and so on. So, Holy Helps for
a Godly Life. It once had this amazing title, and you know, Puritans love their titles,
their long titles. Let me tell you what the title was once upon a time. It was "Seven
treatises containing such direction as is gathered out of the Holy Scriptures, leading
and guiding and to true happiness, both in this life and in the life to come, and may
be called the practice of Christianity. Profitable for all such as heartily desire the same,
in which more particularly true Christians may learn how to lead a Godly and comfortable
life every day notwithstanding their tribulations."
Alright, there's good reason it's been shortened down to Holy Helps for a Godly Life. Let me
tell you a little bit about what it's about. Here's what the back cover says, so you can
get a little overview of its contents.
"The Christian life can be daunting. Especially in a world hostile to the ways of God. But
the good news is that the God who calls us to be holy has also appointed helpful means
so that we can grow in godliness. In Holy Helps for a Godly Life, Richard Rogers shows
what the means of godliness are, he describes their nature and he explains how they should
be used. God has promised to give grace to those who use these means in a right and reverend
way and those who use these means in faith will discover their value for themselves.
Okay, so this is a book about the means of grace. The means of grace, of course, those
ways through which God grants grace to us, to the channels through which grace flows
from God to his people. And this is something, this is universal. This is something we all
need to hear. This is something we all need to hear again and again in the Christian life.
And especially at a time when there's so many different ways being said, here's the path
to holiness, here's the path to walking with God. Let's go back, let's take a look at a
book like this one that takes us back to those means of grace that God has clearly laid out
in his Word, let's see how we can be instructed from a man who lived, who ministered so long
ago. And something that's so important to understand is he's not just talking about
holiness here, he's talking about holiness as the means to happiness. See the point isn't
just to do those things that God says, to just do them out of some cold obedience. The
point is, as we obey God, as we take hold of these means of grace, we grow in happiness,
we grow in joy. Obedience to God is the path to happiness. So as you read a book like this
one, yes, you'll learn how to obey God, you'll learn how to take hold of those means that
he gives us and through it all, you'll learn how to live your life with joy.
So here's how this will work. You can get a hold of a copy of this book. You can go
to Amazon or Westminster Books, they've got lots of copies waiting for you. Westminster
Books will have it in print, Amazon will have print and of course the Kindle edition. Buy
yourself a copy of the book, read the introductory matters. There's a couple of little intro
chapters and then the first three chapters. That can sound daunting, they're short chapters.
So by June 7th, get hold of the book, read the introduction and read the first three
chapters, and then check back here, and I'll have some thoughts, I'll tell you what I've
been learning, I'll leave comments open so you can talk and let's just have a little
engagement how these holy helps for a godly life has been meaningful to us.
So, hope you get a hold of a copy of the book, hope you read it with me, let's read this
classic together.
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