An emphasis on God's grace
You can read the (much) fuller review on SpoiledMilks (7/24/13)
The idea of the book is discovering out who Jesus is. It's not an in-depth, scholarly study of the real Jesus. This is not a continuation of the third quest for the historical Jesus. The question asked in this book is "Jesus is ______? How would you finish that sentence?"
There are 6 major sections: Jesus Is Your Friend, is Grace, is The Point, is Happy, is Here, and is Alive. Judah intends to point us to a Jesus who is in love with us and wants to be with us just like He was with men and women in the Scriptures. He attempts to help give us the opportunity to drown out the lies that we've heard and get down to the basics of who Jesus really is and what He did for us.
The Chocolate Milk
Judah has a pretty engaging style. and I'm sure that's why most people like him. Judah believes the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
I was actually impressed with how he took the parable of the prodigal son in Chapter 4: Embrace Grace. I haven't "studied" that parable myself (aside from hearing it in sermons and reading it myself), so things he said (that were right there i the text) just opened my eyes to the difference it had on the people Jesus was talking to. It was simple, but I enjoyed it.
We don't need to spend every day in the slums of life, but it should lead us to stop and think about how we treat other people who we see as 'dirty and dingy.' They're still people and God still loves them too. Every one of us are dead in our sins without Jesus Christ (Eph 2). Every one.
The Spoiled Milk
Smith uses Scripture to support his message, but the pop culture references were too much. There were more references, jokes, anecdotes, and stories than even Samson could shake a jawbone at. Smith writes a lot of stories about himself, his family/church/friends to help give a visual picture of his biblical points. But at times he just gets wordy.
"[Jesus] came down to their level because they could never rise to his. He wasn't out to prove how good he was or how bad they were. He just wanted to offer them hope" (22).??When reading the whole book you can see Judah talk about the gospel. However, Jesus was out to prove how good He was and how bad others were. He is the standard bar none. No one would follow the Messiah if He wasn't perfect, or if they thought they could get to God themselves. Everyone needed to see how perfect Jesus was, how filthy they were, and how much He loved them. The good news is that we are filthy, yet God still loves us and took the initiative to make a way for us (Eph 2:10).
Some of Smith's stories drag on for pages at a time, some analogies barely work, and others don't work.
Recommended?
Maybe. Smith never tells us to live how we want, but to live in a way that pleases God. This is a book for anyone dealing with legalism or earning their salvation, new Christians, and youth group/high school age.
