Tim J R Trumper

Christianese or Christ?: The Timely Challenge of Jesus' Parable of the Sower Tim J R Trumper

If you assume Jesus' parable of the sower is but a bland earthly story with a heavenly meaning, think again. Jesus doesn't do bland! Read in the context of the kingdom of heaven, our Lord's best-known parable offers a welcome tonic to faithful preachers and hearers of God's Word while countering the infringement of celebrity culture on the church with its encouragement of pseudo-Christianity. Christianese or Christ? constitutes, then, a tract for our times. It calls those of us who preach the Word to jettison our coolness for the biblical rigor of Christlike disciple-making, and those of us hearing the Word to ponder Christ anew. His sovereign claim to our lives comports with neither an authentic Christian's malaise, a professing Christian's cultural "Christianity," nor a non-Christian's selective interest in him as Savior but not as King. With eternal destinies and the church's witness at stake, Jesus' parable merits personal and group study, as also earnest prayer for the revival of our persons, our pews, and our pulpits. Of Christianese or Christ? veteran Welsh expositor, Rev. Geoff Thomas D. D., writes: "This is a superb example of the preaching I love, systematic, expository, evangelistic preaching. This Welshman, Dr Timothy Trumper, stands in the succession of preachers exemplified by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, but his ministry has been expanded by his own keen mind, theological training, international experience, warm spirituality and the utterly contemporary nature of his proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ. So equipped, he faces ideas and issues that congregations and pulpits have to face. There is much help here for the Christian and also for every pastor as they are introduced to the great Sower who constantly goes forth sowing the seed of the word."