How People Change (VantagePoint Books) [Paperback]

Timothy S. Lane (Author), Paul D. Tripp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2006 | Series: VantagePoint Books

What does it take for lasting change to take root in your life? If you ve ever tried, failed, and wondered why, you need How People Change. This book explains the biblical pattern for change in a clear, practical way you can apply to the challenges of daily life. But change involves more than a biblical formula: you will see how God is at work to make you the person you were created to be. That powerful, loving, redemptive relationship is at the heart of all positive change you experience.

Product Details

• Paperback: 255 pages
• Publisher: New Growth Press (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977080722
• ISBN-13: 978-0977080724
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

Review

It s encouraging to know that, in God s hands, the winds of adversity that batter our lives are also agents of fruitful change in us. Paul Tripp and Tim Lane have done us all a favor by leading us down that path of change and teaching us how to embrace God s transforming work in our hearts. --Carolyn Custis James, author of When Life and Beliefs Collide<br /><br />Change does not happen overnight for the Christian. It s a lifelong journey. Paul Tripp and Tim Lane masterfully guide us along the biblical path that points us to the cross and a lifestyle of faith and repentance. I recommend this book to all Christians who desire to grow in their relationship with God. --Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College<br /><br />This book is applied theology. It s about heat, thorns, the cross, and fruit. It s about present grace. In sixteen short and well-illustrated chapters, the wonderful prospect of change for the good is held out for the reader. We are called to consider our circumstances and our responses to them, and beneath that to examine our hearts desires and to turn afresh to Christ s cross. --Mark Dever, Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

Change does not happen overnight for the Christian. It s a lifelong journey. Paul Tripp and Tim Lane masterfully guide us along the biblical path that points us to the cross and a lifestyle of faith and repentance. I recommend this book to all Christians who desire to grow in their relationship with God. --Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College

This book is applied theology. It s about heat, thorns, the cross, and fruit. It s about present grace. In sixteen short and well-illustrated chapters, the wonderful prospect of change for the good is held out for the reader. We are called to consider our circumstances and our responses to them, and beneath that to examine our hearts desires and to turn afresh to Christ s cross. --Mark Dever, Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

About the Author

Timothy S. Lane, M. Div., D. Min., and Paul David Tripp, M. Div., D. Min., are counselors and faculty members at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation in Glenside, Pa. and lecturers in practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary.Both men were pastors Tim in Clemson, S.C. and Paul in Scranton, Pa. before coming to CCEF. Tim and his wife, Barbara, are the parents of two daughters and two sons. Paul and his wife, Luella, are the parents of three sons and a daughter. Paul is the author of Age of Opportunity; War of Words; Instruments in the Redeemer s Hands; and Lost in the Middle. Both men write extensively on biblical counseling and lead church-based counseling training courses using CCEF s Transformation Series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 255 pages
• Publisher: New Growth Press (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977080722
• ISBN-13: 978-0977080724
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Timothy S. Lane, M.Div., D.Min., is executive director of CCEF, a faculty member, and a counselor with almost twenty years of experience. He is the co-author of CCEF's Transformation Series curriculum, How People Change, and Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, in addition to numerous articles and booklets.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Christianity & real life August 3, 2006

By Mark Combs

Format:Paperback

When the subject of how people change is brought up among Christians, so often all that is said is simply "trusting God" or just "giving" something to God. But in real life, why is it never that easy?

This book is about the truths of the Gospel bearing down on daily life. If you want to see the deep connection between your daily life & how change, rooted in the gospel, takes place, then this book is for you.

If you are a pastor, youth minister, Sunday School teacher, elder, or teach the Bible in any way, you have to get this book. So often pastors & teachers will simply tell people what to do & what not to do (only focusing on making direct calls to the will), while completely ignoring what is going on in the heart. This book will help you see yourself & others in a new way that is centered in the gospel.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Practical, Bibilical, Congruent Theology of Personal Change February 3, 2010

By James John Hollandsworth, M.D. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

It's the unspoken elephant in the room: why aren't professing Christians, by and large, any different than non-Christians? We often struggle and fail at the same sins, have the same divorce rates, and generally don't stand out as being more kind or loving than devoted moral adherants of other religions--- despite our theology that we have been "born again." Ask many, including pastors, the question, and the reply often comes down to some variant of "they aren't trying hard enough" or "they aren't really saved after all."

But the question behind the question is "So, how do people really change--- how does a person who has become a child of God actually become radically more loving, more peaceful, more self-controlled, in a way that isn't mere psychology and that can't be explained or experienced by a non-Christian?"

Few people can give a robust, Biblical, detailed explanation to this fundamental question. Timothy Lane & Paul Tripp can, and do, in this wonderful book. They give us a truly Biblical & congruent theology of how people change, and show us a path to meaningful personal change in our own lives.

The first five chapters lay a foundation for what real Biblical life change is and isn't-- they talk about how easy it is to substitute external change like formalism and activism for true change of the heart. They lay out the crucial understanding of our marriage to Christ, and how God designed real change to take place in the context of community. There is a lot of rich thought provoking truth on every page of these foundation chapters.

Next, they move onto their central Biblical picture of how God has designed change: that of the tree.... They explain chapter by chapter that the "heat" of living in a fallen world brings out fallen human responses of sin and evil "thorns." But as we turn to the cross of Christ and His presence we gain the ability to bear beautiful fruit, new supernatural responses to the same "heat" that before would only produce thorns.

True "fruit" only comes from the nourishment that God provides, and we need to be able to recognize the thorns and the fallen nature behind them to be able to choose Christ instead. This book is a wonderful Biblical mirror to hold in front of your soul, to be able to see yourself, the good and the bad, and see the work of God within. Highly recommended. Read more ›

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Bible Study October 2, 2007

By Ray Ann

Format:Paperback

I have literally done dozens of Bible studies in small groups, and this one is over and above The Best. It's nothing inherently new, but the way the authors organize the study and theologically lay out the material, as well as their use of the Scriptures as foundational to illustrate the truth, has been nothing short of life changing for our little group of 40 something Christians. We have learned so much about each other that we never knew, so much about ourselves, and perhaps most exciting, have actually CHANGED in response to seeing exactly what a Gospel-centered life means TODAY, and how living in true community with other Christians is a basis for life change. The Gospel is relevant again, whaddya know! Not just when I got saved, or in eternity, but Today. I recommend it to everyone. Our church had the authors out for a seminar and they were humbly inspiring. Authentic Christianity at its best.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended! November 13, 2008

By Trevin Wax

Format:Paperback

How People Change is one of the best books I've read this year.

Tripp and Lane believe that the biggest area lacking in Christian counseling today is the gospel. They call this problem the "gospel gap." Too many Christians see the gospel as affecting their past (forgiveness) and their future (hope), but do not understand the practical ways in which the gospel should be brought to bear on their present choices. How People Change seeks to correct "the gospel gap" by providing biblical teaching and and practical instruction.

The opening chapter alone is worth the price of the book. Tripp and Lane believe that our temptation is to seek fullness and fulfillment in something or someone other than Christ. To counter this idolatry, they encourage us to apply the grace of Christ to the everyday details of our lives, not merely the big problems that we face. The rest of the book spells this theme out more clearly - how to apply grace to everyday life.

How People Change avoids moralism. It centers the gospel message, not in abstract terms, but in the story of redemption. Tripp and Lane are big on seeing the gospel within the framework of the biblical Story. They write about the Christian's past and the Christian's future in order to shine light on the Christian's life in the present. Our destination informs our journey.

There are a couple of places where I believe the theological language could be a little more refined. In describing Jesus' crucifixion, the authors write: "The triune God was torn asunder so that we might be united to him and to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ." (69) They interpret Jesus' words on the cross this way: "Why have we been ripped asunder?" I understand the loss of covenant fellowship between Father and Son at the cross.... Yet, I am not comfortable with the language that the "perfect unity" that existed between the Trinity being demolished, if even for a time. Do not most theologians see all three members of the Trinity as united in the task of redemption? The authors' description lends itself to the idea that God could somehow be split in his essence and is not careful enough for me.

Another weakness is in the chapter: "Married to Christ." The authors choose to describe individual Christians as being married to Jesus (betrothed is the word they use). But they bypass the church in this chapter. Instead of seeing our marriage to Christ as taking place within the fuller community of faith, they skip the church and talk about the individual being married to Christ. To their credit, by the end of the chapter, they switch the emphasis. In the next chapter, they turn to the community of faith and spend a good amount of time on sanctification within the body of Christ. The rest of the book maintains the right emphasis upon the individual within the context of covenant community. Perhaps that is why the marriage chapter seems out of place. Nowhere does the Bible speak of the individual as being the bride of Christ.

The second half of the book focuses on Heat, Thorns, Cross, and Fruit.

Heat represents the circumstances of life that are beyond our control.
Thorns represent those areas of sin that we are easily entangled in.
The Cross represents the resources that Christ gives us in our sanctification.
Fruit represents the outworking our growth in holiness in tangible ways.
I like the way the authors make their case. One of the secondary themes that runs throughout this book is a primary emphasis in the book I am writing for Crossway: we take good things and make them ultimate things. We engage in idolatry whenever take something out of its proper sphere and put it in a place of worship.

How People Change rightly roots our problem in idolatry, not in our lack of self-esteem. We are idolaters at heart. Therefore, the issues must be dealt with at the heart-level.

The authors state their vision for this book:

"Our desire is to see individual Christians and entire churches participate in a ground swell of gospel celebration - a celebration of the amazing grace available to us in Christ."

I believe How People Change is a book that can help churches move in the direction of fulfilling this vision. It is relentlessly biblical, immensely practical, and pastorally helpful. I highly recommend it. Read more ›