Introduction
In
2010, a relatively unknown pastor came onto the scene with a book that would
challenge the landscape of American Christianity. That book was Radical, and the author was David Platt.
In his work, Platt calls out Christians to live life in a radically different manner
that is counter cultural to what we are being taught by society. In a period of
just several short years this book has reached the pinnacle of Christian
publishing; remaining on publishing charts for numerous weeks and jettisoning
Platt into the national if not global platform.
Summary
To begin with, this is not an
extremely long book. It weighs in at 217 pages and nine chapters, with each
chapter having its own title and sub-headings.
Chapter one is entitled Someone
Worth Losing Everything For. In this
chapter, Platt argues “We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around
catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually
about abandoning ourselves. “[1]Later
on he urges that no matter what we believe, “we have in many areas blindly and
unknowingly embraced values and ideas that are common in our culture but are
antithetical to the gospel he taught.”[2] At the end of the chapter, he drives home his
point when he says “ In the process of hearing Jesus, you are compelled to take
an honest look at your life, your family, and your church and ask,, “What is he
saying?” but also ask “What shall I do?”’[3]
Chapter
two is entitled Too Hungry for Words.
In an attempt to show our utter
sinfulness, Platt reminds us, “ Everything in all creation responds in
obedience to the Creator …until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to
look God in the face and say, “No.””[4]Platt
also does a good job pointing out that, “…we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand,
minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accommodate our
assumptions and our desires. As a result we desperately need to explore how
much or our understanding of the Gospel is American and how much is biblical.”[5]
As we look at chapter three, Beginning at
the End of Ourselves, Platt makes the assertion,” The dangerous assumption
we unknowingly accept in the American dream is that our greatest asset is our
own ability.”[6]
When we try to live in our own power, God will come along and show us how much
we really need him, and according to Platt, “This is how God works. He puts his
people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows
his provision in ways that display his greatness.”[7]
What
is awesome about this chapter, is his focus on the magnitude of God and the
role he plays in accomplishing anything. He further proves this point when he
says, “God delights in using extraordinary Christians who come to the end of
themselves and choose to trust in his extraordinary provision. He stands ready
to allocate his power to all who are radically dependent on him and radically
devoted to making much of him.”[8]
In
the next chapter, the Great Why of God,
Platt introduces us to some of the purposes of God. Everyone at sometime has
asked the question “what am I here for?” or
“what is my purpose?” Platt tells us that we are to: “Enjoy his grace
and extend his glory. This is the twofold purpose behind the creation of the
human race in Genesis 1, and it sets the stage for the entire Book that
revolves around the same purpose.”[9]
In continuing on with this topic of purpose he claims, “God has created us to
accomplish a radically global, supremely God –exalting purpose with our lives.”[10]
Chapter
five has a great title, The Multiplying
Community. This has become a major topic over the last several years. How
are we to go about being a multiplying community? Platt suggests that we follow
the pattern Jesus set before us. That pattern is not something that is mass-produced,
because “genuine, committed, self-sacrificing followers of Christ—are not made
over night.”[11]
Something that gets to the heart of disciple making is that we must go to them
and not expect them to come to us in order to hear the gospel.[12]
Platt brings everything together when he says, “Disciple making is not about a
program or an event but about a relationship. As we share the gospel, we impart
life, and this is the essence of making disciples.”[13]
In
the next chapter called How Much is
Enough?, Platt discusses how we Americans need to assess our finances; how much do we
really need to live on, and how much do we give up? According to Platt, “If there is no sign of
caring for the poor in our lives, then there is reason to at least question
whether Christ is in our hearts.”[14]Something
that this author found extremely interesting was this statement made by Platt,
he says, “In the dawn of this new phase in redemptive history, no teachers
(including Jesus) in the New Testament ever promise material wealth as a reward
for obedience.”[15]
This was very intriguing and helped to drive the authors point home that we are
to serve out of love and for temporal gain.
Chapter
seven is called There is No Plan B.
What the author is getting at here is that there is no other alternative route
to heaven, the only way there is by Jesus. He makes a very harsh statement when
he says, “ I think each of us tends toward either intellectual or practical
universalism.”[16]
He makes this statement in light of how difficult it is to fathom the fact that
people who have never heard of Christ and had the opportunity to respond, go to
Hell. He tells the story of an innocent
man in Africa who has never heard the Gospel, but then responds, “There are no
innocent people in the world waiting to hear the gospel.”[17]Just
a paragraph later he says that, “all people are guilty before God, and as such
the default is not heaven but hell.”[18]Those
are some harsh words to hear but in all reality they are the truth.
The
next to last chapter is Living When Dying
is Gain. In this chapter, Platt goes up against our normal thought process
and challenges us to really take a look at what living with death in mind truly
looks like. He makes some bold statements about how if we want to serve the
Lord and be more like him that we will face persecution. “To everyone wanting a
safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus. The
danger in our lives will always increase in proportion to the depth of our
relationship with Christ.”[19]
Chapter nine, the last and final chapter, is called the Radical Experiment. In this chapter Platt issues five challenges to
his audience. He challenges his readers
for one year to… pray for the entire world; read through the entire Bible; sacrifice
money for a specific purpose; spend time in a different context; and commit
your life to a multiplying community.[20]
Critique
This
book is a very powerful book, but it has one flaw that it may not impact the
person completely and make a profound change. The one thing I am afraid of is
reading this book and thinking that ‘oh those are good ideas/thoughts and not
doing anything with them’. In the very first chapter, Platt makes a statement
that resounded with me. He says, “…every day I see more disconnects between the
Christ of Scripture and the Christianity that characterizes my life and the
church God has entrusted me to lead.”[21]
Another powerful statement that Platt made was, “Note taking is not the measure
of how committed we are to making disciples, but if we are hearing God’s Word
taught in order to teach others, then we want to get it down as best we can.”[22]
A statement that was a true punch to the gut was when he said, “Regardless of
what we say or sing on Sunday morning, rich people who neglect the poor are not
the people of God.”[23]That
statement made me wonder if he means we have to be dealing with the poor on a
personal basis, or can it be on a corporate basis?
Application
This
book, while it lists five main challenges at the end of the book, it is chock
full of things that can be applied to life. I think that the best application
points do come from chapter nine and the challenge Platt issues to his
audience. Right now I do not pray for much of anyone or anything I do not know,
so praying for the whole world will be a new venture for me to enter into. I
have the book Operation World he
recommends to use.
I
slightly disagree with him in saying that we need to read through the Bible in
a year, I personally get through it every two to three years, I have read the
NT multiple times in a year. While I can see where for some it may be
beneficial I just have come to know myself, and my ability to read and to
comprehend, and trying to do it in a year is pushing it. He also has urged us to sacrifice our money
for a specific purpose, this is an area that I do not yet have mastered, my
wife and I are faithful tithers, but we do not give too much above our set
amount. We live on a very strict budget while living on student loans right
now. I have recently helped support a Christian band whose music I like and feel
they have a good mission and music. That is one way I have given sacrificially
above our normal tithe recently.
I
will have to pray hard about where the Lord would have me spend time outside of
my normal context. As I have mentioned in previous assignments my health is not
the best, so it is a challenge to do things around my home. But I have been
invited by a pastor friend of mine who is getting ready to move to Haiti; He
would like me to come down there and help put on pastor training, so that would
be outside of my normal context. Lastly,
I am part of a church plant, so we are part of a multiplying community.
Conclusion
In
conclusion this work is a very powerful book that I would recommend to any
Christian, especially those who are involved in a small group setting. To go
along with this work I would highly recommend you read Crazy Love by Francis Chan, these are two books along similar lines
that will ignite a fire inside of you; and hopefully will bring about a change
in your life that your community will notice. Even if your community does not
see the change right away, the kingdom will. So take the time to read this book
and digest it, and if you have the time and ability when your done, come back
to it and do it again, I am sure there will be things you missed the first
time.
Bibliography
Platt, David.
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream. Colorado
Sprngs: Multnomah Books, 2010.
DavidPlatt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American
Dream. (Colorado Sprngs: Multnomah Books, 2010)7.
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