Jesus + Nothing = Everything
by Tullian Tchividjian
Crossway Books (October 14, 2011)
In Jesus + Nothing = Everything, Tullian Tchividjian recounts the season in his life where he went from popular to unpopular in a short span of time. This clipping of his wings drove him to the gospels and this book is what God showed during that time.
Once he realized and admitted he had an addiction, not your physical type of addiction but a spiritual addiction, he began to examine his life. In any Christian at any level of maturity, this is a painful process. The last thing we want to admit is that we are not perfect. Taking a hard look at ourselves and our motives makes us realize how sinful we are.
Tchividjian describes his addiction as being as ‘an addiction of being liked’. He uses the experience of blending Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his own Church, New City Church. Before the process of merging these Churches, he was well known, accepted and even admired. During the merging process, several Church members strongly voiced their opposition. Tchividjian was no longer popular.
This is where he recounts how the whole process revealed to him how much he had become accustomed to hearing validation from others rather than looking to Jesus for his validation, his purpose for being. When he no longer received such praise, he was driven to the gospels to understand why.
And what did he find? As I remember reading the book, the one quote that remains with me is Tchividjian’s words that ‘…the gospel erases us…’ If we focus on Jesus, His behavior, His responses, His Love and grace shown in the gospels, we do indeed disappear. Our ambitions and desires fade away. We are caught up in the awe of the beautiful life of Jesus and we toss away our worries, our ambitions, our crazy desires like an heavy winter coat in July hot weather.
This is the blessing Tchividjian received during that hard season of his life. Another was his an examination of legalism both in his life and in the lives of others presented in the gospels. His thoughts on performancism (his connotation)were particularly interesting stating that it is the greatest enemy of the gospel.
There was one other section that left me with an aha moment. I want to include it in this review even though it might be controversial.
Tchividjian states he is not a fan of accountability groups. He explains that he has participated in several throughout his life but does not feel they are beneficial. Why? Because the focus of the an accountability partner, if he/she is an acquaintance and not a friend, is sin. You meet together for one purpose, to talk about your sin. You get advice from others about your sin. If you are not meeting with these people to develop a friendship that involves all aspects of your life, then meeting to be ‘accountable’ makes sin the focus and not the grace freely provided that makes you victorious. I simply love that.
He wraps up the book with his recommended reading list in the chapter “Twenty-Six Books on the Gospel”, a fully annotated Notes section and a General and Scriptural index section. All in all an excellent read.
This book prompted many discussion with my friends about several concepts related to the Gospel’s. In my opinion, that’s always the mark of a great non-fiction read. I recommend it highly.
Reviewed by: Keiki Hendrix
Reviewed for: The Vessel Project
This is an Amazon Vine Review
Amazon Vine™ invites the most trusted reviewers on Amazon to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make informed purchase decisions. Amazon invites customers to become Vine Voices based on their reviewer rank, which is a reflection of the quality and helpfulness of their reviews as judged by other Amazon customers.
