What do you think?
Rate this book
For What It's Worth: A Call to No Holds Barred Discipleship
Written by a young, passionate author, this book is a highly challenging call to respond to Christ with our whole hearts and nothing less.
- GenresChristianNonfiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2007
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 24, 2011
Exhortation/motivation towards radical discipleship. At least 50% of the book is quotations and/or anecdotes about the lives of spiritual greats, missionaries, and Guillebaud himself.
Chapter 1: Risky Business
The premise: Failure and risk-taking is a necessary part of discipleship. The message of the cross is “foolishness to those who are perishing,”; following Jesus’ lead is not guaranteed to be in accordance with the dictates of common sense. Favourite quotation from this chapter: “Failure is not an event, but a judgement about an event. Failure is not something that happens to us or a label we attach to things. It is a way we think about outcomes.” – John Ortberg
Chapter 2: What Do You Mean?
The premise: This book is a call to radical discipleship; radical Christianity. Radical discipleship is just discipleship that is founded on the roots of the Christian faith (“radical” is from the Latin radix, or root). This chapter largely devoted to deconstructing the lie that a pastoral or ministry vocation is more important than a secular one. Mark Greene says: “All vocations are equal, and so-called ‘secular work’ is a vocation. Many of our Bible heroes were in fact workers…” (35)
Chapter 3: Trust
The premise: “We can’t be prescriptive in dictating how God will guide and intervene. The important thing is to trust him completely, even when the answer seems painfully long in the coming, or when the heavens reverberate in infuriating silence.” (45) Included mostly personal testimony and anecdotes of how this has been true in his life and in the lives of others (e.g. James Calvert, missionary to Fiji Island cannibals; the apostle Paul). Favourite quotation: “I must never choose the scene of my martyrdom, nor must I choose I choose the things God will use in order to make me broken bread and poured out wine. His own son did not choose. God chose for his son that he should have a devil in his company for three years…” – Oswald Chambers (50)
Chapter 4: Hanging in There
The premise: Jesus didn’t promise that discipleship would be easy. “When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating him and quoting him and speaking of him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus.” – Joni Erikson Tada (54) “If [he who wants to write my biography] gives me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much. I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.” – William Carey, missionary to India (57).
Chapter 5: Time On Our Knees
Premise: Establishing the primacy, the purpose, and the power of prayer. The primacy of prayer illustrated through snapshots into the lives of men and women who spent great amounts of time in prayer – e.g. Jo Church, involved in the East Africa Revival, who prayed “Lord, send revival, beginning in me.” The purpose of prayer is to enter into God’s world, gain his perspective, and fulfill his purposes (73). The power of the prayer is illustrated through the example of John “Praying” Hyde and a personal example of how prayer and intercession fuelled his own desire to bring others to faith.
Chapter 6: Choose Life!
The premise: Don’t, at the end of your life, find yourself guilty of a wasted life. “Choosing life involves fully embracing and enjoying God’s awesome creation and the opportunities which life presents us with.” (95) Jesus says in Jn. 10 that he came so that we might have life, and have it to the full. Our lives are not meant to be “tightly-reigned risk-minimization enterprises”. (98)
Chapter 7: Death and Glory
The premise: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” If we are true disciples and wish to follow Jesus, we must be willing to die for him. (Cf. 2 Cor 5:14-15, e.g.) But when we die to ourselves we gain the hope of eternal glory.
Chapter 8: High Stakes
The premise: “We can’t afford to have a hazy theology of hell, if we’re to respond to the call to radical discipleship.” (117) The chapter provides a sampling of verses from Scripture on hell, e.g. Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Thessalonians 1:8-9, and Revelation chs. 14 and 20. Berdyaev describes hell as “the state of the soul powerless to come out of itself, absolute self-centeredness, dark and evil isolation, i.e. final inability to love….In hell the soul is separated from everyone and everything.” (120) Furthermore, we should recognize the very limited time that we have here on earth, and the fragility of our lives. Loved a tangential comment in this chapter about street preaching: “The challenge for all who try this entirely valid avenue of outreach is how to communicate the whole truth lovingly. It’s hard (but not impossible) to shout in love! Communication is what people hear, not necessarily what is said.” (124)
Chapter 9: Dreamers of the Day
The Premise: With God, nothing is impossible. God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). This chapter is filled with examples of people, both Christian and non-Christian, who had big dreams and eventually worked towards achieving them through hard work and faith.
Chapter 10: A Fair Share
The Premise: Jesus commands sacrificial giving; he commands that the needy not be neglected by the rich. Bishop Desmond Tutu said: “A church that is in solidarity with the poor can never be a wealthy church. It must sell all in a sense to follow its Master. It must use its wealth and resources for the sake of the least of Christ’s brethren.” (143) Guillebaud says, “It’s the inconsistencies between words and deeds expressed in Jesus’ name by his followers which have so often nullified their intended positive impact.” 144) The emphasis is on integrity in the Christian’s life, and the blindness of the west to the plight of the poor – have we been blinded to the Scriptures by greed? This is a convicting chapter, and filled with conscious-piquing statistics (annoyingly sans references however).
Chapter 11: Got To Go!
The premise: The great commission is still as relevant today as when it was first given. “The church is one organization that exists to a large extent for those outside of itself. We can’t allow ourselves the luxury of playing safe behind closed doors in cosseted pious huddles, immersing ourselves in rapturous worship, assessing the expository skills of the pastor, and getting diverted by inconsequential and peripheral issues whose cosmetic value sucks the very lifeblood of the Body of Christ out of it.” (161) Guillebaud emphasizes that we need to go both to our own nation, and the nations.
Chapter 12: Total Surrender
The purpose of total surrender: That our lives will honour God and point others to him.
The power of total surrender: Exemplified in the ministry of Walter Lewis Wilson.
The practicalities of total surrender: God wants us to surrender our fear of people, our desire for popularity, and our longing for respect and reputation. (175)
The pain of total surrender: If offering ourselves up as living sacrifices, we die to ourselves – to our right to ourselves. It will undoubtedly be painful, and that pain will be multiplied by being misunderstood by our more respectable brothers and sisters. But we need to remember that the cross was never respectable. It was foolishness, an insult, a shame, a disgrace. (180)
The privilege of total surrender: God promises eternal life (1 John 5:13), that he will meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), and he will give us strength to accomplish everything (Philippians 4:13)
Conclusion: So What’s It Worth?
We must go into this together, with those who are like-minded. (As in the book ofActs, and according to the African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.”) We must go into this “not by might, nor by power, but by his Spirit” (Zech. 4:6) And we must go knowing that the kingdom of heaven is worth our all.
Chapter 1: Risky Business
The premise: Failure and risk-taking is a necessary part of discipleship. The message of the cross is “foolishness to those who are perishing,”; following Jesus’ lead is not guaranteed to be in accordance with the dictates of common sense. Favourite quotation from this chapter: “Failure is not an event, but a judgement about an event. Failure is not something that happens to us or a label we attach to things. It is a way we think about outcomes.” – John Ortberg
Chapter 2: What Do You Mean?
The premise: This book is a call to radical discipleship; radical Christianity. Radical discipleship is just discipleship that is founded on the roots of the Christian faith (“radical” is from the Latin radix, or root). This chapter largely devoted to deconstructing the lie that a pastoral or ministry vocation is more important than a secular one. Mark Greene says: “All vocations are equal, and so-called ‘secular work’ is a vocation. Many of our Bible heroes were in fact workers…” (35)
Chapter 3: Trust
The premise: “We can’t be prescriptive in dictating how God will guide and intervene. The important thing is to trust him completely, even when the answer seems painfully long in the coming, or when the heavens reverberate in infuriating silence.” (45) Included mostly personal testimony and anecdotes of how this has been true in his life and in the lives of others (e.g. James Calvert, missionary to Fiji Island cannibals; the apostle Paul). Favourite quotation: “I must never choose the scene of my martyrdom, nor must I choose I choose the things God will use in order to make me broken bread and poured out wine. His own son did not choose. God chose for his son that he should have a devil in his company for three years…” – Oswald Chambers (50)
Chapter 4: Hanging in There
The premise: Jesus didn’t promise that discipleship would be easy. “When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating him and quoting him and speaking of him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus.” – Joni Erikson Tada (54) “If [he who wants to write my biography] gives me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much. I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.” – William Carey, missionary to India (57).
Chapter 5: Time On Our Knees
Premise: Establishing the primacy, the purpose, and the power of prayer. The primacy of prayer illustrated through snapshots into the lives of men and women who spent great amounts of time in prayer – e.g. Jo Church, involved in the East Africa Revival, who prayed “Lord, send revival, beginning in me.” The purpose of prayer is to enter into God’s world, gain his perspective, and fulfill his purposes (73). The power of the prayer is illustrated through the example of John “Praying” Hyde and a personal example of how prayer and intercession fuelled his own desire to bring others to faith.
Chapter 6: Choose Life!
The premise: Don’t, at the end of your life, find yourself guilty of a wasted life. “Choosing life involves fully embracing and enjoying God’s awesome creation and the opportunities which life presents us with.” (95) Jesus says in Jn. 10 that he came so that we might have life, and have it to the full. Our lives are not meant to be “tightly-reigned risk-minimization enterprises”. (98)
Chapter 7: Death and Glory
The premise: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” If we are true disciples and wish to follow Jesus, we must be willing to die for him. (Cf. 2 Cor 5:14-15, e.g.) But when we die to ourselves we gain the hope of eternal glory.
Chapter 8: High Stakes
The premise: “We can’t afford to have a hazy theology of hell, if we’re to respond to the call to radical discipleship.” (117) The chapter provides a sampling of verses from Scripture on hell, e.g. Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Thessalonians 1:8-9, and Revelation chs. 14 and 20. Berdyaev describes hell as “the state of the soul powerless to come out of itself, absolute self-centeredness, dark and evil isolation, i.e. final inability to love….In hell the soul is separated from everyone and everything.” (120) Furthermore, we should recognize the very limited time that we have here on earth, and the fragility of our lives. Loved a tangential comment in this chapter about street preaching: “The challenge for all who try this entirely valid avenue of outreach is how to communicate the whole truth lovingly. It’s hard (but not impossible) to shout in love! Communication is what people hear, not necessarily what is said.” (124)
Chapter 9: Dreamers of the Day
The Premise: With God, nothing is impossible. God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). This chapter is filled with examples of people, both Christian and non-Christian, who had big dreams and eventually worked towards achieving them through hard work and faith.
Chapter 10: A Fair Share
The Premise: Jesus commands sacrificial giving; he commands that the needy not be neglected by the rich. Bishop Desmond Tutu said: “A church that is in solidarity with the poor can never be a wealthy church. It must sell all in a sense to follow its Master. It must use its wealth and resources for the sake of the least of Christ’s brethren.” (143) Guillebaud says, “It’s the inconsistencies between words and deeds expressed in Jesus’ name by his followers which have so often nullified their intended positive impact.” 144) The emphasis is on integrity in the Christian’s life, and the blindness of the west to the plight of the poor – have we been blinded to the Scriptures by greed? This is a convicting chapter, and filled with conscious-piquing statistics (annoyingly sans references however).
Chapter 11: Got To Go!
The premise: The great commission is still as relevant today as when it was first given. “The church is one organization that exists to a large extent for those outside of itself. We can’t allow ourselves the luxury of playing safe behind closed doors in cosseted pious huddles, immersing ourselves in rapturous worship, assessing the expository skills of the pastor, and getting diverted by inconsequential and peripheral issues whose cosmetic value sucks the very lifeblood of the Body of Christ out of it.” (161) Guillebaud emphasizes that we need to go both to our own nation, and the nations.
Chapter 12: Total Surrender
The purpose of total surrender: That our lives will honour God and point others to him.
The power of total surrender: Exemplified in the ministry of Walter Lewis Wilson.
The practicalities of total surrender: God wants us to surrender our fear of people, our desire for popularity, and our longing for respect and reputation. (175)
The pain of total surrender: If offering ourselves up as living sacrifices, we die to ourselves – to our right to ourselves. It will undoubtedly be painful, and that pain will be multiplied by being misunderstood by our more respectable brothers and sisters. But we need to remember that the cross was never respectable. It was foolishness, an insult, a shame, a disgrace. (180)
The privilege of total surrender: God promises eternal life (1 John 5:13), that he will meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), and he will give us strength to accomplish everything (Philippians 4:13)
Conclusion: So What’s It Worth?
We must go into this together, with those who are like-minded. (As in the book ofActs, and according to the African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.”) We must go into this “not by might, nor by power, but by his Spirit” (Zech. 4:6) And we must go knowing that the kingdom of heaven is worth our all.
August 6, 2010
I thought that Simon has a few good ideas, and testimonials about the power of God. I especially liked his ideas on both personal and intercessory prayer as I am not very familiar with the whole concept of intercessory prayer. Personally I would have liked him to share more of his experiences in Burundi, but sure that wasn't what the book was about. I give this a 4 star rating. I also suggest that men may find the style a little more engaging.
July 4, 2016
Very inspiring book
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews