In the early years of my missionary training, there was a particular book that it seemed almost everyone was encouraging me to read. I won’t mention the author or the title, but I will say that at the time, it was being touted as the next Christian classic – something akin to J.I. Packer’s Knowing God, or Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest.
I eventually got my hands on a copy and devoured it. Even as a relatively inexperienced Christian, various alarm bells went off as I worked my way through the book. The arguments made in the book were mostly based on anecdotes from the author’s life and his experiences working with the persecuted church, and they often ran counter to the plain teaching of the Bible. It was moralistic, sentimental, perhaps even mystical – and even though I’m sure I didn’t know those categories existed back then; I had made up my mind that I would never recommend this book to anyone.
I often think about a particular anecdote in the book that probably did not trouble me at the time but has increasingly bothered me more the longer I’ve been in the ministry. I can’t remember the exact details, but the author tells the story of a young woman who came to South Africa from a destitute situation and a country where the church is often persecuted. She came into his office one day and seeing the many books that he had on his shelf, started rebuking him for what she referred to as “spiritual gluttony”. A rebuke he took to heart and decided to turn into a moral lesson in his book.
I’m sure that this young woman was probably troubled by the affluence and relative ease that most churches enjoy here in South Africa, and that her comment about his vast library of books was just an expression of her sense of unease and unfamiliarity in a world so different to hers. But I’d like to briefly explore the idea of spiritual gluttony which the author challenges his readers with – because I’m not convinced that there is such a thing.
My biggest problem with this concept is that it views Christian literature as something to be consumed merely for our pleasure. As a man who was a Baptist minister himself, I would have expected the author to have been able to explain to the young woman, that for a minister his books are the tools of his trade. And that accusing him of being a spiritual glutton was about as appropriate as accusing a mechanic of being a “vehicular glutton” for having a large collection of spanners, sockets, torque wrenches and other tools.
The minister’s calling is to “rightly handle the word of truth” and he understands that he is dependent on books to help him in his interpretation, elucidation and application of that word. Jesus himself speaks of the need for a Scribe of the kingdom of heaven (a minister of the gospel) to be like a householder with a well-stocked treasury: “who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Mt. 13:52) If I am not a well-informed and thoroughly trained minister of the gospel, I have no business teaching anyone anything about the kingdom of God.
But I don’t think this holds true only for ministers of the gospel. I believe the Bible emphatically exhorts all Christians to be spiritual gluttons. What else did Peter mean when he said: “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Pe. 2:2)? And what do we make of Jesus’ quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3, when he tells Satan: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4)? And perhaps the clearest of all are God’s words to Israel, when he says: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food”(Is. 55:1-2).
But I know what you’re thinking – these exhortations are all about “glutting” yourself on the word of God, not the uninspired books that have been written about the word of God or on the subject of Christian theology, or church history. Well, consider this: If God had thought that it was enough for Christians to make use of the Bible alone and that they did not need insight or instruction from other men, you have to ask yourself the question, why then did God see the need to give the church teachers (whom Paul refers to as gifts from Christ) to: “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood” (Eph. 4:11-13)? It would seem that God’s design is for saints to be equipped and matured, through the gospel ministry of those called and gifted for this work.
This, I believe, does not only include the ministers in each particular church, but also significant teachers of the past. Throughout church history, the great theologians and preachers of years gone by have always been regarded as gifts that Christ has given to his church (Eph. 4:8-16). We recognize, in humility, that we can only see with the kind of clarity that the Christian life requires, by standing on the shoulders of those gifted teachers who’ve gone before us. We also see the responsibility that we have to mark their lives and seek to imitate them even as we remember their words (Heb. 13:7). Of course this applies not only to the teachers of the past, because in every generation God raises up gifted men to instruct his church.
When viewed in this light; when we understand that all Christian literature, whether we’re talking about Bible commentaries, devotional literature, biographies or whatever else is sound and edifying – exist to enable you to be: “…transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). As much as they are tools in the preachers hands, enabling him to rightly handle the word of God – they are tools in the hands of every Christian, shaping, informing, edifying, convicting and ultimately maturing them so that together they may be built up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Far from warning you not to engage in spiritual gluttony – I want to encourage you to “glut away”. As long as you are reading for the purpose of being instructed and growing in the faith – don’t let anyone hinder your progress by warning you against the “dangers of intellectualism” or “dead orthodoxy”. It’s true, some people become theological hobbyists. They become collectors of theological books and pride themselves on shelves stocked with the works of Calvin, Owen and Bavink. But in my experience these people are rarely ever readers. And if they are, they certainly are not reading for the purpose of being better disciples of Jesus.
But here’s my encouragement to you. Read books on Christian theology – read them prayerfully – and you will grow in you’re admiration and love for the triune God of the Bible. Read Christian biographies, they’ll challenge the areas in your life where you are lacking and encourage you to keep persevering. Read books on Biblical parenting, or being a better husband, or wife. Read books that will help you to understand why the world is the way it is – books by Francis Schaeffer or Carl Trueman. If you don’t know what to read, or where to start, ask your Elders, but read something!
Sentimentalism and anti-intellectualism have eaten away at the church like a cancer for the last century. The only antidote I know of, is for God’s people to read. As Spurgeon once said: “ “We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure time, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master’s service. Paul cries, “Bring the books” — join in the cry.”
I know that some people find it difficult to read – believe it or not – so do I. I often don’t enjoy reading and find I lack the discipline to sit down and read for longer than thirty minutes. But then I think of William Carey studying Greek and Latin by candlelight in his workshop while mending shoes and I’m challenged to keep going. And today with the proliferation of audiobooks and audiobook subscription services, there really is no excuse for our ignorance. The church would be well served if Christians were a little less concerned with what they feel, and a lot more concerned with what they know. The church could do with a few more spiritual gluttons. Tolle lege – take up and read.