About the Book––
Christians have made the gospel about so many things—things other than Christ. Religious concepts, ideas, doctrines, strategies, methods, techniques, formulas, "its" and "things" have all eclipsed the beauty, the glory, and the reality of the Lord Jesus Himself. On the whole, Christians today are starved for a real experience of the living Christ. We know a lot about our Lord, but we don't know Him very well. We know a lot about trying to be like Jesus, but very little about living by His indwelling life.
JESUS MANIFESTO presents a fresh unveiling of Jesus as not only Savior and Lord, but as so much more. It is a prophetic call to restore the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ in a world—and a church—that has lost sight of Him.
Every revival and restoration in the church has been a rediscovery of some aspect of Christ in the process of answering the ultimate question that Jesus put to His disciples: "Who do you say that I am?"
About the Authors––
Leonard Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University (NJ), a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Fox University (OR) and a weekly contributor to sermons.com and podcast "Napkin Scribbles." With some of the highest "influence" rankings of any religious figure in the worlds of social media (Twitter, Facebook), he has authored numerous articles, sermons, and close to fifty books.
Frank Viola is a best-selling author and international conference speaker. His books include Revise Us Again, Reimagining Church, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church and the best-selling From Eternity to Here. www.FrankViola.com
My Review––Long overdue.
This is a review long overdue. I received this book, perhaps a year ago. I read through it quickly, as is my practice when I receive books to review. I want to get a sense, "Should I invest more time with this book?" I did give it a second, slightly less rapid read. Did I believe there was something more here? Were there nuggets I'd missed in my cursory first glance? Or was something else "nagging" at me?
Sweet & Viola present a clear call to Jesus Christ as THE way to God. In a pluralistic culture that seeks to be tolerant of all faiths (an illogical act if there ever was one), this book will step on a lot of toes and cut off many a conversation by insisting that Jesus is the only true way to have a relationship with God. In that, I can commend them.
However, something kept niggling at the back of my mind about this book; something seemed to be missing, or at least, just overlooked? This is why I gave the book just a bit more time. And I think I figured out what it was––the cross.
Sweet and Viola don't go off the rails blatantly nor directly, but I wonder if what they say about the cross, or more accurately, what they don't say, is part of a bigger problem in so many evangelical churches today. I'm not convinced that the cross is held up in the way in which Scripture intended. Oh sure, the cross is mentioned early on in this book, but not as the offense to modern, sinful man, not as the cure for our sin-sickness, not as the truth that we are saved from something as much as we are saved to something.
I think, in so many teacher/preacher/writer's attempt to be winsome with the gospel, to appear to be friendly to the "seeker", we set aside the offense of the cross. The "Sally Fields Syndrome," as I call it, settles in and we're overjoyed at the reality of the experience––"You like me! You really, really like me!" It's a heady thing. It's also dangerous to the power of the gospel. It's a completely different book, but the title of Ed Welch's latest offering hits too many of us evangelical preachers right between the eyes: "What Do You Think of Me? And Why Do I Care?"
This is a book I really can't recommend. I can't say I'm against it, in the sense that I'm against Rob Bell's "Love Wins." Yet, I simply can't recommend it. There are too many other good books on the cross of Christ (John Stott's book by that very title, for one example) to be had out there that one should read.
The Jesus Manifesto may be purchased here (but as I said, I don't recommend it, but you're free to spend your money as you see fit):