Why put up with the hassle of setting up a bookstall each week or more pertinently why should we bother to read Christian books.

We all have busy lives and there are plenty of things we’d prefer to do with our spare time. When we get in from work, the choice between vegging out in front of the TV or slogging though Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion doesn’t seem a very difficult one! So I want to offer 4 quick reasons why it is worthwhile switching off the TV and reading a Christian Book:

1. To help us understand different books of the Bible

I doubt there is anyone here who feels they have a good handle on the Bible in its entirety. In fact there may be large sections that we’d struggle to say more than a sentence about. Yet there are a huge range of resources around that can really help us get to grips with those unfamiliar parts. Bible commentaries are an obvious place to start. These take a book of the Bible, give a thematic introduction, then work systematically through the text. Two good places to start are the Bible Speaks Today series from IVP and the Focus on the Bible series by Christian Focus. Neither of these requires technical knowledge and are written by leading evangelical scholars in a way that everyone can understand and enjoy. They focus on the broader themes rather than getting bogged down in too much detail. The other great place to start is the Good Book Company interactive studies. These split a bible book into roughly 8-10 studies and guide you through the book section by section.

2. To benefit from the accumulated knowledge of others

Within the wider church there are people whom God has gifted in academic ability who have written books for our benefit. These writers have been able to give years of thought to issues of complexity, which help us to better understand God and His purposes. It’s great to be able to tap into these accumulated years of Christian experience and thought. Many have attempted to summarise the whole Bible’s teaching on key issues and these ‘Systematic Theologies’ are written to help us understand the dominant ideas of the Bible. This is sometimes called doctrine. Bruce Milne’s ‘Know the Truth’ is probably the most accessible of these. In addition, Evangelical scholars like Don Carson, Jim Packer and John Stott are also examples of men who are worth reading.

3. To become informed on a specific contemporary issue

Sometimes we have an idea what the Bible teaches on a certain issue but we’re not really sure. For example, we may want to gain a better idea of what the Bible teaches about worship and singing. Alternatively we may want to get a better grip on what the Bible teaches on the contemporary social issues of homosexual marriage or how we should treat unborn children. With a good concordance and lots of time we could just about manage something on our own. However, experts have written books that bring together this broader biblical analysis that make life a lot clearer and easier! One obvious place to start would be John Stott’s book, ‘New Issues Facing Christians Today’ or ‘The Essence of’ books from The Good Book Company.

4. To be encouraged by the godly example of others

It often seems difficult been a Christian in 21st Century England. It’s easy to become disheartened with the struggle of living the Christian life. Biographies can encourage us as we see the way Christian brothers and sisters have persevered in much harsher circumstances than ours. Or they can encourage us as we see how God uses ordinary people like us to achieve amazing things for Him and His kingdom. Some biographies concentrate on contemporaries that God has used across the world, others on men and women through history who have demonstrated what it truly means to be a disciple of God. One book that’s very popular at the moment is ‘The Heavenly Man’ which tells about the growth of the gospel in China in really difficult circumstances. Alternatively there are great biographies on men like George Whitefield or Martin Luther, whom God used mightily. I think therefore that we ought to be persuaded to read Christian books, even if reading isn’t our favourite leisure activity. Let me encourage us to think about having the following

• a basic introductory systematic theology book 
• some basic commentaries on the books we are studying 
• a couple of good biographies 
• single issue books on what we might term hot topics

Of course buying these books mean nothing, plenty of people with large collections of Christian books that are almost all unread. Rather, concentrate on having a small number of books that you can commit to reading to, either individually or in groups like prayer triplets.