Book Review – The Lord’s Work In The Lord’s Way & No Little People by Francis Shaeffer

Book Review – The Lord’s Work In The Lord’s Way & No Little People

The Lord’s Work In The Lord’s Way & No Little People by Francis Shaeffer

Synopsis:

Christians serving the Lord can fall into two traps: depending too heavily on their own power or underestimating their God-given purpose. In this collection of classic sermons, renowned theologian and philosopher Francis A. Schaeffer teaches believers how to rely on the Holy Spirit–not personal effort or status–in matters of service and leadership.

This short book includes an excerpt from Schaeffer’s sermon, “The Lord’s Work in the Lord’s Way,” plus 2 sermons from the book No Little People. Covering topics including humility and servanthood, Christian office, spiritual battles, and trusting God’s methods, Schaeffer encourages pastors, students, and church members to live as consecrated people, working humbly for God’s approval instead of human praise. (Taken from Goodreads page)

Review

Context

What I like about Crossway Short Classics is that they provide context to the author and the setting in which the writing occurred. If you never understood when Calvin wrote the Institutes or he was in his 20s when he wrote it. Ray Ortlund does a decent job of talking about Francis Schaeffer as there’s a lot to say about such a great man of God.

Series Goal

As for the series from Crossway, their intent is to provide a short snippet from a greater work. In a world where we start sweating when someone suggests a 300-page book that changed many hearts and minds throughout the span of its publication, these short classics offer a good entry point that points to the greater work.

Fighting For The Faith

I’ve been liking this series from Crossway Short Classics. They provide a snippet of a longer book from an influential Christian and talk about who the person was, what setting they were writing in or against, and an overview of the longer book. This encourages someone who may want to have more than your average taste for a book before committing one’s self to the longer work.

With this work by the great Francis Shaeffer, you get two for the price of one. While others in this series come from books, these come from sermons Shaeffer gave so you get a taste of Shaeffer you might not have gotten before of him as a preacher. However, if you know Shaeffer, he’s an evangelist at heart and even his books have a flair of sacred sermon.

The first section titled, “The Lord’s Work in the Lord’s Way” speaks on how in our Christian walk or in our lives as Christians we over-emphasize reliance on our own power but forget about relying on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It’s not our position or status where the ends justify the means – it’s about reliance on who God is to strengthen the understanding of our Creator-creature distinction that is the reason we are given what we are for His glory.

The second section titled, “No Little People” was actually a really fun and important message that surprised me (I enjoy being surprised by Schaeffer anytime). Here, he talks in a similar vein of the above but on focusing on who God is, His role in the sanctification process, and in not getting down on ourselves if we don’t feel “big enough” to be useful to God in the ministry areas He has given us in our lives. Schaeffer points to God needing to be our focus not just in our thoughts but also in our actions.

One of my favorite parts on this is Schaeffer’s warning of a person, even an influential minister, wanting to grow their ministry so as to have more influence so they can, at least as their justification, to have a greater impact for God. He warns that while even the best intentions are sought (and they are not always the case), that having the bigger capture of influence might distract them from having the quiet relationship with God that allowed them the position they are in and the more easy slippage into distraction one could have. I really found that portion insightful, convicting, and fascinating. It shows the struggle that Schaeffer might have had with forming L’Abri or being a more (or less) public speaker. I thought this was a very insightful message for a very insightful man.

Final Grade