Grace to the City: Book Review
Wang, S.E. and Nation, Hannah. Grace to the City: Studies in the Gospel from China. Metuchen, NJ: China Partnership, 2019.
Introduction
Christians in the West tend to be curious about believers in China, after decades of knowing theirs as a “closed country.” We pray for China, interceding with our concerns over government persecution and, as I write this, alarming reports of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We read biographies or newsletters of missionaries to the Far East, and wonder what house churches in China are built upon? What are their core beliefs and practices? Their ethos? What does a Sunday sermon sound like? How is God’s universal body uniquely expressed in China?
The answers are as varied as the flavors and theologies represented among the thousands of unregistered, growing churches in the vast nation. At a Hong Kong conference years ago, I ate with and listened to various urban pastors praying and seeking to define their theological convictions, deciding whether to organize denominationally, and navigating their God-given gifts and even obstacles to better shepherd their flocks. The task before them was (is) not easy, and they took their call to stewardship seriously in the unique time and place within which God has led them to serve.
The newly released book, Grace to the City: Studies in the Gospel from China, is a window into the ministries of a handful of church leaders through their teaching on God’s Word. It reveals deep burdens these brothers carry for their sheep, and their collective hope for the sanctification of their congregants. Their personal devotion to the Lord and his glory shines throughout the book, which is a compilation of one sermon from each of five leaders. As a foreigner working in China for years, it was rare to sit under a Chinese pastor’s teaching or attend a house church due to security concerns. This book affords its readers the opportunity to not only better understand the faith of the Chinese, but also be shaped by God’s family in the East. As editor Hannah Nation states in the preface: “It’s time for us to start allowing Chinese Christians to lead us to Christ, to start learning from and listening to the fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit taking place in their country” (6).
Origins
The content comes from a gospel movement, influenced by Reformed theology, that “has been sweeping across the traditional Chinese house church, calling churches back to the historical gospel of grace as they live and exist in China’s new urban centers” (10). In the Introduction, Nation and fellow editor S.E. Wang give distinctives of the movement, whose main goal is to build up faithful, biblical churches, so that members might be deeply united to Christ by faith. They posit that “focusing on grace is a major paradigm shift for many churches in China” and the out-workings of true Biblical grace, in relation to God’s law, is a theme running throughout the book. The five essays presented were translated and adapted from plenary talks at a Reformation 500 Convention by leading house church voices Wang Yi, Simon Liu, Peng Qiang, Gao Zhen, and Yang Xibo. The editors emphasize the ultimate goal of Grace to the City is not academic, but rather the renewal and revival of God’s people.
To organize and apply the significant content of the messages, editors Nation and Wang helpfully incorporate a brief biography of each of the five writers, thus providing a window into their unique backgrounds and spiritual gifts. Bullet-pointed application questions at the end of each essay both summarize the content and support the goal of prompting a response to God’s Word in readers.
Content of the Five Sermons
I. “Grace Reigns” by Wang Yi : Romans 5:20-21
Wang Yi is a lawyer and poet whose background is apparent as he opens by interpreting a classic Tang dynasty poem in light of the legal language of Romans Chapter 5. In “The Prognosis” section that follows, Wang expounds upon how Jesus alone rescues people from sin and despair by tracing how death has reigned since Adam. Through the subsequent giving of the law to Moses, Wang teaches that God’s people were made aware of their failure to keep His holy commandments and they were in fact the sinners among whom death reigned. Their prognosis was more grim than they realized. Today, Wang reminds his audience, the law continues to reveal the addictions of God’s people, including their own self-righteousness, and deep need of forgiveness from such sins.
In his second point, “Christ the King,” Wang employs a powerful and culturally relevant illustration that has gripped him since childhood: a “death exemption medal” from the classic Chinese novel “Water Margin.” In the story, only the Emperor can bestow a certain medal of amnesty, whose recipients are effectively exempt from judgment if they commit any crimes. Wang connects the good news of the Gospel to this medal illustration. Sin still exists but no longer reigns, because God has given a death-exemption medal to all who trust in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of his son, Jesus. Wang delves further into this truth by teaching that Jesus brings both royal grace, as only a powerful and saving King can do, and also abundant grace, since his generous grace outweighs his judgment.
Many readers will find this first sermon especially poignant, as Wang Yi is currently imprisoned for nine years on charges of “inciting to subvert state power” and “illegal business operations.” It is a powerful thing for a church to witness their leader living out what he has preached. Though Wang will likely never receive a medal of exemption from the earthly authorities imprisoning him, he can be reassured by the eternal exemption, and even exoneration, that his King Jesus has secured for him. One can picture him in prison quarters, embodying his very own, hopeful words from his essay: “grace is not only the way God saves and forgives me; it is also the way that God trains and reigns in me. Grace not only removes our sin, it transforms our circumstances” (38).
II. “Being Devoured for the Glory of God” by Simon Liu: Psalm 114:5-8
The second essay is by Simon Liu, a convert to Christianity from the business world. His vocational expertise is apparent in his opening section, “A Society of False Gods,” as Liu uses Psalm 114 to call out the idol worship of false gods of wealth, power, and materialism, especially in the wake of China’s movement towards a consumer-driven, free market economy. He also puts a finger on China’s longing for a savior of its own, and the nationalism that has long gripped the hearts of his countrymen. Liu uses economic language of consumption to further the point that life apart from the God of the Bible ends with human beings “devouring” one another in all realms. But, Liu assures, God doesn’t just expose such individual and societal corruption, he also rescues us from it. Psalm 114, Liu teaches, contains two “crucial and corresponding topics: trusting and blessing” (50). It is through these dynamics that God calls his people to be freed from living for themselves.
The middle section of his message, “Blessings and Temptations of the Church,” recounts the history of the church in China, and boldly calls Christian men, women, and children to be grateful for the legacy they’ve inherited as the fruit of the obedient labors of others. Liu proclaims Chinese Christians have been blessed, and “Glory be to God! But, eating habits die hard in Chinese culture. When people from this dog-eat-dog society begin to believe in God, will they continue in the same strange behavior of this society, where people devour each other?” (56). Liu laments that churches he has witnessed are often no different from the world. Pastors sometimes “devour” their church by poorly stewarding their roles and resources, and believers can consume the church through self-promoting relationships or mirror the world in idolizing the success of their children.
As Liu pastorally urges his audience to repentance, he points them to the beauty and sacrifice of the suffering Christ in the third section, “Feeding on Christ. ” Through Romans 12:1 and John 6:53, Liu heralds the Biblical call to a cruciform life. Christians are to lay down their lives as the Savior has perfectly done for them. Christians must flip the direction of our idolatry, turning from conceit and hunger for the world, to the redeemed form of being devoured by Christ himself, and in turn, feeding on Him. Liu aptly connects this paradigm shift to the culturally familiar Chinese greeting, “Have you eaten?” When posed with that daily question, he boldly exhorts his brothers and sisters to remember their core identity and hunger, that “without feeding on the Lord, you cannot face this world…when you drink the blood of Christ…your DNA becomes the DNA of the cross, and you become salt and light to this world” (64).
III. “Faith: The Sole Connection between God and Man” by Peng Qiang: Hebrews 11:1-7
Peng Qiang is a Christian publisher turned gifted pastor, with a strong commitment to Biblical exposition. In the book’s third sermon, Peng teaches from Hebrews 11 that God calls His people to commune with him by grace through faith, and to seek a transcendent imagination for his active work in the world. Peng first makes the point of “The Critical Nature of Faith” over works of the law. He contrasts Abel and Enoch in the Hebrews passage as those with different worldly destinies, but whose eyes were both opened to truly see God and to recognize that everything comes from His grace.
To introduce his next point, “Faith as a Connection,” Peng Qiang, like Liu in the last essay, employs an effective cuisine-related illustration recognizable to anyone who’s spent time in urban China. Every morning, Hot Pot restaurant employees are lined up and asked by their managers: “Do you all have faith today in [our business]? All are to shout back, “Yes, we do!” (76). Peng encourages his fellow Christ-followers to imagine what it might be like to believe Hebrews 11:1 so deeply they might daily proclaim (perhaps even audibly) their own bold faith in the future promises of Christ.
Peng helpfully defines faith as both a condition and a connection, and gives concrete examples to consider the call to “faith” as less an abstract state of being, and more an everyday force in the life of a believer. He teaches that faith is what determines people’s worldview, their willingness to suffer, their values, and even scheduling priorities.
Furthermore, he points to Jesus as the climax and fulfillment of the invisible God’s desire and commitment to engage visibly with His creation. Jesus’s real obedience and sacrifice become, as the whole of Hebrews teaches, the basis for a Christian’s faith. Peng exhorts his audience that “through Christ Jesus we can come to know an invisible kingdom that is more real than the visible persecution of today, more real than the visible GDP, more real than concrete buildings, and more real than all visible power and wealth. When we are captivated by the truth of the kingdom…its vision…its grace…that invisible kingdom will turn around and come inside us” (80).
“The Heart of a Beggar” is his final point, where Peng draws metaphors from Hebrews 11:6 to describe one who truly lives the life of faith as having the “dependent heart of a beggar, the trusting heart of a child, and the submissive heart of a servant” (81). Christians are beggars because it is only through Christ’s righteousness that sinners are graciously covered in his royal robes and marked by his holiness. Christians are children who revere their Heavenly Father, trusting in and accessing His goodness. Finally, Christians are to be servants. Peng returns to the Hebrews 11 passage to illustrate this truth through the example of Noah submitting to God’s will.
Peng closes by teaching on the nature of faith and the related theme of suffering -- a theme that runs throughout Grace to the City, and a reality that the Chinese church has long endured in a unique way. Peng charges the Chinese church to prepare for even more: “Dear brothers and sisters, the churches in China have yet to go through even more difficult trials. These may not always be political… [they] may come in the form of secularism. May the gospel further disrupt the church of God and draw us by his grace. In this difficult age, faith connects today with the future, our present life with the eternal kingdom, what we see with the unseen” (88).
IV. “To Know the Lord” by Gao Zhen : Genesis 4:1-7
The introduction to the fourth essay names its author, Gao Zhen, as a humble and sincere pastor who indeed practices what he preaches. Gao’s main idea is the value of constructing the life of a believer around Scripture. Through Genesis 4, Gao explores the Cain and Abel account and what these two brothers teach us more broadly about relationships, work, and worship. Fundamental Biblical themes of sin and suffering are present throughout.
Gao opens by addressing the “Vertical and Horizontal” nature of all of our relationships. He grounds his teaching on individual and corporate relationships in the Triune God of the Bible, whom he contrasts with man-made gods. Gao adeptly identifies the sin-tainted reality of our vertical communion with God, and the brokenness we experience horizontally with one another. He does not hold back in naming the struggle that exists both inwardly and outwardly: “Our history of believing in the Lord is a history of feeling isolated and exhausted, and no one knows what to do about it. Some Christians even refuse outright to develop relationships, trying to avoid the messiness of church life in order to showcase their unattached holiness” (98).
He follows his diagnosis with a pastoral call to the Biblical remedy of humility and repentance as the people of God who have been made to love Him and one another. In a somewhat unexpected exegetical point, “Constructing Our Lives,” Gao ties the Genesis 4 passage on Cain and Abel to the work of God’s people in the world. Gao may veer into speculation about Cain and Abel’s vocational choices, but is obviously burdened that his brothers and sisters live with a Christian work ethic, submitting the entirety of their choices and professions to God.
“Offerings to God” is Gao’s final point, again drawing from Cain and Abel’s actions in Genesis 4 to reject sacrifices made in self-centeredness. Abel sincerely offered to God a “lamb that redeems,” but Gao points his audience to the ultimate and perfect offering made by God himself, who condescends to provide his people with the ultimate lamb of sacrifice: his very son, Jesus. Worship, then, comes from gratitude for the true Savior, who alone can forgive sins, impute righteousness and restore humanity’s vertical relationship with their Creator.
V. “Jesus, the Personification of Love” by Yang Xibo: 1 Corinthians 13
Reared as a fourth-generation Christian, Yang has had to wrestle with what the true life of faith means for himself. He is gifted at keeping the Gospel central. His quotes and illustrations reflect how deeply Reformed church fathers have shaped him, as well as his respect for elders in his own time and place.
Yang begins his message by helpfully giving background on the Corinthian culture that Paul is addressing, paralleling much of it to modern Chinese society. Along with corruption and outward forms of sin, Yang shows that Paul’s central point in chapter 13 is that the Corinthian church – and Christians today – easily seek “power and benefit without the love of Christ” (113). Yang adeptly offers a heart-check to his audience by describing forms that such hollow Christianity might take in the lives and churches of his own culture.
He first points to “Human Motivations,” and puts a pastoral finger on men and women’s fallen condition of operating out of either fear or pride, or fluctuating between the two. Both issues stem from self-worship, and run counter to the Gospel. Yang gives the altruistic example of a famous Chinese philanthropist to show that even our best actions are often steeped in self-love rather than Christ-love.
Next, Yang preaches that sincere love for Christ comes from knowing that He first loves his people. Yang presents the familiar Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians afresh by teaching that “Love is a Person.” Love is not a noun (a feeling), or a verb (a choice), but fully embodied by Jesus! Yang substitutes the repeated word “love” in the Biblical text with “Jesus,” graciously pointing believers to the difference in Christianity from sheer morality or will-power. Jesus doesn’t just meet the standard for his people, but is himself the standard and fulfillment. Yang calls Christians to go forward in faith in Christ’s works on their behalf, rather than their own efforts to love.
The final point of the sermon, “An Ethic of Gratitude,” moves toward application and calls brothers and sisters to the discipline of thanksgiving as a further antidote to fear and pride. Yang gives one of the most clear and compelling Gospel illustrations of the entire book on page 124, showing how a life of gratitude is truly steeped in grace:
“But the gospel is not about you seeing Jesus jump in to save others; it is not about other people falling into the river. The gospel is about us falling into the river ourselves, and Jesus jumping in to save us. If you only treat Jesus as a role model for saving others, next time someone falls into the river and Jesus is not around, you jump in and save that person. He thanks you, and you say in your heart, “You are welcome.” But you really feel in the depth of your heart, ‘I’m almost as great as Jesus is.’ But the ethic of the gospel is that you yourself fell into the river, and when you fell, Christ sacrificed his life and saved you. When someone else falls in, you stop struggling with the question of whether you should save him, because you have received amazing grace. When you do save him, you point [to Christ] when he says, ‘Thank you.’”
Yang, like the contributors before him, reminds his audience of both the power and freedom of the Gospel, and the Spirit-led life of gratitude that can flow in response.
Assessment
Readers who approach Grace to the City: Studies in the Gospel from China with a posture of humility, and respect for Chinese culture and history, will be both encouraged and challenged. Taking time to work through the application questions following each essay will especially assist personal growth. The five voices expressed in the book are a beautiful mix of both Biblical truth and grace, and the boldness of the Chinese pastors in exhorting their congregations is refreshing. The consistent call for corporate repentance and confession of sins (many generational in nature) is a helpful counterbalance to the emphasis on individual faith and practices often found in Western churches. As Simon Liu puts it, “we are family members and must name these things and point them out clearly.” Their tones reflect the heart of true shepherds, who have been transformed by their own encounters with God, and are lovingly calling their flocks to better know and follow their Lord.
The organizational format of the messages may be less linear and more illustrative or narrative than some readers are accustomed to, but it reminds us of the variety of forms sermons can take. The five messages employ culturally-relevant illustrations and references to literary works that honor their ancient civilization and connect their audience to it, while at the same time drawing minds and hearts to the greater Gospel “third way” of living in the world.
The only lack I felt upon finishing Grace to the City was the voice of a female. Out of respect to theological convictions tied to the movement’s reformed tradition, such representation might not take the form of a formal leader or pastor, but were a second volume of this book to be (hopefully) published, it would be significant to hear from a sister in the Chinese church as well.
Conclusion
Chinese believers perpetually have been an example to me of Biblical meekness, faith, and gratitude, especially in the context of trials. This book has achieved its goal by amplifying their voices and providing readers a front row seat to Christ’s universal church living out their identity –and thus encouraging others to do the same. Though the forms of evil they resist may be culturally specific, the universal truth of Scripture holds and reminds the readers that as believers, we share far more in common - both in our need of Christ and opportunity to live out our identity as his children – than not.
Beyond addressing its readers as front-row witnesses, however, the book invites our participation. It provides a needed word to the American church and the heavy analysis/dissection we can tend towards, especially in more intellectually leaning church networks. Many Chinese have sat under our preachers, taking scrupulous notes at trainings, and eagerly receiving from the Western church. They have been grateful recipients. Are we also willing to be not just pioneers and leaders, but learners and followers of our Christian brothers and sisters across the world? May it be so for the glory of God our Father.