Thinking About "Radical"

During the middle of August I bought I book that I had been curious about for a while, called "Radical" by David Platt. It didn't disappoint my expectation. I quickly read through the book in a week and a half. I am revisiting the book to day, to further chew on some of the things in the book that resonated with me and challenged me.

One thing I appreciate about Platt as he writes is that he has been "marked" by his travels to various parts of the world where he has seen followers of Christ live out their faith amongst the difficulties of persecution and poverty. Upon returning from a trip to Asia where Christianity is forbidden by the government, he had this reflection to offer, "...I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable. We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves (pg 7)."

He sums up the main idea of the book on page 13 where he states, "We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist Him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice, middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, want us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream."

Later he reflects on the Church displayed in Acts and expresses this as a "dream" for the Church today. He states, "I cannot help but long to be a part of this kind of scene in the church today. A scene were we refuse to operate in a mind-set dominated by an American dream that depends on what we can achieve with our own abilities. A scene where we no longer settle for what we can do in our own power. A scene where the church radically trusts in God's great power to provide unlikely people with unlimited, unforeseen, uninhibited resources to make His name known as great. I want to be a part of that dream (pg. 53)."

I also like the way he unpacks the "great why of God." He states, "God blesses His people with extravagant grace so they might extend His extravagant grace to all peoples on the earth (pg 69)." Later he adds, "It centers on His greatness, His goodness, and His glory being made known globally among all peoples. And to disconnect God's blessings from God's global purpose is to spiral downward into an unbiblical, self-saturated Christianity that misses the point of God's grace (pg 71)."

One last thing (for this blog entry at least) that I liked was how he challenges his congregation with the question of whether they are "receivers" or "reproducers" of God's Word. In other words, are you going to church to get "YOUR" Word, or rather to take what you've heard and passing it on to others (making disciples). He asks, "What if we began to think, how can I listen to this Word so that I am equipped to teach his Word to others?" Although, I realize that God can speak to us individually through the teaching of His Word and convicts us and challenges us to change. However, too often we stop here and limit it to only personal application. I like that he is pushing ALL of his congregation to be teachers of the Word by having a "reproducer" mindset.

I may write some additional blog entries as I continue to chew on this book. It is definitely worth picking up. Stay tuned...