Stand

A Call for the Endurance of the Saints

Book Details

Discerning Reader Editorial Review

Reviewed 11/28/2010 by Mark Tubbs.

Recommended. A practical application of the doctrine of perseverance to various areas of the Christian life from Reformed leaders.

"How on earth am I going to get through this?" must be one of the most frequent questions a Christian asks. For all of life's blessings, difficult situations arise on a regular basis and each new problem demands a unique response. These situations require the Christian to endure in faith, believing God for resolution, even blessing. The supernatural ability to endure is related to the theological term perseverance, the application of which to the Christian life was the main topic under consideration in Desiring God's 2007 National Conference. Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints is the published outcome of that event.

Many of the usual suspects in today's Reformed circles stood alongside John Piper as headliners for the conference, including Jerry Bridges, John MacArthur, and Randy Alcorn. They were joined by iconic missionary doctor Helen Roseveare. All five speakers brought eminently practical messages of enduring hope for those attending, messages which deserve to be widely distributed among English-speaking Christendom. Check that: in 2009 Editorial Portavoz released the Spanish version of the book, Como Perseverar Hasta El Final. Perhaps more foreign-language versions are the works; I certainly hope so.

Your appreciation of the messages/chapters in this book will differ based on your age and station in life. For some, Jerry Bridges' clear encouragement to practice four central disciplines will be most helpful: daily time of focused personal communion with God, daily appropriation of the gospel, daily commitment to God as a living sacrifice, and firm belief in the sovereignty and love of God. For others in the autumn and winter stages of life, Piper's plea not to ever retire from a life of service and ministry will be a welcome and/or challenging charge. For those in ministry, MacArthur's and Roseveare's descriptions of the joys and sorrows of long years of Christian service will resonate deeply. For myself, Alcorn's autobiographical narrative of a life lived for a gospel-related cause was significant at my stage of life as a young preacher and parent of small children. The book ends with interesting interviews featuring questions posed by Taylor of each speaker.

Here are some notable quotes:

Let me tell you, there are two things that God will never take away. God will never take away the gospel...And, second, God will never take away his promises. (Bridges)

Perseverance is not the means by which we get God to be for us; it is the effect of the fact that God is already for us. You cannot ever make God be for you by your good works because true Christian good works are the fruit of God's already being for you. (Piper)

Therefore, perseverance is necessary for final salvation, and perseverance is certain for all those who are in Christ. (Piper)

He who turned on the lights of the universe can do the same in a darkened heart by turning that heart toward Christ, in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." (Col 2:9). (MacArthur)

One of the greatest enemies of a long obedience in the same direction is the desire to be popular, whether with the world of the church. If your eyes are on anyone but Jesus, you're not going to have the stamina to put up with criticism. (Alcorn)

While the Reformers opposed works-righteousness, they never opposed righteous works. Indeed, God honored a multitude of righteous works, and a spirit of disciplined endurance, to bring about the Reformation. (Alcorn)

So, if you wish to persevere, ask God to empower you to put one foot in front of the other. Then start moving your feet. When the alarm goes off in the morning, ask God for strength. But don't ask him to levitate you out of bed, flip the Bible open, and turn the pages for you. (Alcorn)

While this collection isn't as strong as previous DG National Conference publications (the transcriptions of Bridges' and MacArthur's messages seemed a tad under-edited, for instance), the encouragement to persevere is a message that must be heard, and heard often. Christian publishing, sadly, does not seem to offer much in the way of treatises on perseverance: Tom Schreiner's Run to Win the Prize (Crossway), Schreiner and Ardel Caneday's The Race Set Before Us (IVP), Eugene Peterson's A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (IVP), and Piper's The Roots of Endurance (Crossway) come to mind. Any of these books will be a worthwhile addition to your library, but Stand is worth investing in first because it acts well as a primer for the rest.