The Jesus Mission (Book Review)

Last month I received a copy of the book The Jesus Mission by Steven Scott to read and review.  Personally, I was a little skeptical before I read it.  I had never heard of Steven Scott before.  His bio in the dust jacket talks about how he "learned the laws of success by studying the book of Proverbs" and lists his successful business ventures.  The book says that Jesus has "4 missions He assigned you."  At first glance, I thought this was going to be another Joel Osteen or Prayer of Jabez "secret to personal success" type book.  I was wrong. 

Steven Scott writes from a very strong theological and biblical background.  His writing reflects someone who has deeply studied Scripture and has invested a lot of time in personal study of God's word.  This is no "pull out a verse and then show how God has promised to bless you" type book.  The author makes no apologies for the power of God's word and its necessity in the life of a follower of Jesus.  He does a solid treatment of describing salvation and what it truly means to be "born again".  He challenges modern-day Christianity that teaches people to rely on past experience, walking an aisle, being baptized, etc. as the basis for proof of salvation.  He does and excellent job of challenging readers to "count the cost" of following Jesus. 

Every chapter in this book is loaded with advice that is directly from the pages of Scripture and a solid exegesis of those passages.  By his own admission, the author spent two years reading and organizing all of Jesus' statements in Scripture into 1900 commands and teachings.  He then categorized them into 225 topics and wrote a book about it.  He uses those Scriptures that he has immersed himself in as a spiritual compass.  The reader is invited in to discover what God wants and in doing so finds himself challenged to reject easy, passive religion and embrace the cost of following Jesus and being obedient to his teachings and commands. 

I would highly recommend this book for personal study, for a Sunday School class, for new Christians, and for those who are looking for something with some substance in a Christian book marketplace that is full of self-help pablum.  Put this book on your reading list this year!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.