What time is it? How to answer the question

I know some of you might be disappointed to learn this, but discipleship is more than getting someone to come to your bible study or join your church. There is more to it than giving someone a ride to and from church or visiting someone in the hospital or jail. And, as I read Eschatological Discipleship: Leading Christians to Understand Their Historical and Cultural Context by Trevin Wax (B&H Academic, 2018) it also seems that there’s a lot more to it than right here and right now.

                It’s not even all about next month or next year (unless the Lord returns by then).   Thoughts, words and actions agree. And to help us answer those questions, Wax suggests that we need to be asking the question ‘what time is it? And we ask that question not in terms of whether or not we can read another chapter before going to bed, but in relation to our understanding of where we find ourselves on the line that begins with creation and will one day end with the return of Christ.

Discipleship for the Christian should be about end-times. And even that can be a little tricky to define, because depending on your world-view, the end times can be any number of things. But For the Christian, a world view should include Jesus at every level, and so discipleship should model a balance of sound doctrine, right practice, and proper sentiment.

                I was impressed by the scholarship demonstrated in this book. Dr. Wax (who by the way is Bible and Reference Publisher for Lifeway Christian Resources) identifies incidents in the Old Testament which set the precedent for Eschatological Discipleship before moving on to the examples that can be found in the Gospels and in Acts, and also in the letters of the Apostle Paul.

                But as mentioned earlier, worldview plays an important part; and today, perhaps more than ever before, competing worldviews have left people confused about what they believe and why. Wax takes time to describe some of the worldviews to which we are exposed, including Enlightenment, the Sexual Revolution, and Consumerism.  Your worldview helps you answer the big questions of life, and helps you determine a proper course of action when confronted with a particular situation. That combination of sound doctrine, right practice, and proper sentiment is highly dependent on the worldview to which you subscribe.

                Further complicating things is the lack of a commonly agreed upon definition of discipleship, or disciple, or evangelical. In fact whole books have been written on any number of definitions of these key terms. Wax does an outstanding job of comparing and contrasting several different models to help the reader ask the worldview question ‘What time is it?’

                This book is published by an academic publishing house, so its reader appeal may be limited. Having said that, I think that the audience for which the book is intended will be pleased with Trevin Wax’ masterful work.

                I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a favorable review, only an honest appraisal.

                5/5