Book Review: Marks of the Messenger

Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the GospelKnowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel by J. Mack Stiles.

A couple of months ago I listened to a lecture by D. A. Carson and heard him recommend this book, so when I was making my January reading list, I added it. (I didn’t, at that point, remember that it had also been reviewed and recommended at a couple of places on my blog roll.) The brief comment by Carson didn’t tell me much about the content of Marks of the Messenger, so I began reading not knowing exactly what to expect.

What I found was a book focused on developing believers with a mindset for evangelism, or growing Christians with heart for the gospel. I’d half-expected a “how to evangelize” book, which tend to leave me feeling guilty and paralyzed, but instead, this little book is all about knowing, loving and valuing the true gospel so that the gospel soaks into and out from our lives.

J. Mack Stiles is CEO of Gulf Digital Solutions and general secretary for the Fellowship of Christian UAE Students (FOCUS) in the United Arab Emeritus. He worked for many years with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in the United States.

In the process, Stiles corrects some of the common misconceptions about the gospel. He tackles issues like pragmatism in evangelism, legalism, easy-believism, assuming the gospel, making social issues more important than the gospel, and more.

One of the strengths of Marks of the Messenger is it’s format. It’s short; it’s chapters are short; and it’s very easy to read. The style is conversational and each chapter starts with a story. After church on Sunday I was talking to someone who was also reading this book (on a Kindle—and this is a perfect book for your Kindle), and he said it was almost “light reading,” and that’s exactly right. But he also called it “deep,” and that’s right, too. You could hand this book out indiscriminately to believers (not a bad idea) and know it would be appropriate for all of them.

Two Quotes from Marks of the Messenger

No Hemming, Hawing and Tiptoeing Around

Not Equal to the Gospel 

I’ve already quoted from this book in previous posts, so I won’t quote more in this review. You can read a couple of quotes by following the links in the box to the left.

In Marks of the Messenger, J. Mack Stiles helps us identify the gospel and put it in its rightful place in our lives and in our world. This book will help the believer be emboldened by the gospel in order to share the gospel, and that’s an excellent thing. For that reason especially, it gets my seal of approval.