Are you ready for an experiment? A radical experiment? An experiment that will turn your life upside down? In one year? And not just you — your church as well? Well, pick up a copy of David Platt’s book Radical and take up the challenge he gives in this book. I dare you! More about that later.
Last year I did a book review on Platt’s more recent book, Radical Together. I knew of at least one church that was using this book to help leaders and church members become unleashed for the purposes of God. And it was making a difference. In this book review I gave readers this suggestion: “Discuss how to put the ideas of this book into practice. This might sound radical, but I am convinced that if you were to do this together with others, the people of God will be unleashed for the purpose of God all to the glory of God. And when you do this, drop me a line to tell me the stories of how your people are being unleashed! Let us encourage one another, and all the more as we near the Day of our Lord’s return. (Hebrews 10:25)” I like to tell a brief story of how one church has been doing exactly that: putting the ideas of this book into practice. More about that later as well. First of all, however, what is so radical about Radical?
Radical and Radical Together are companion books on a similar theme: to spend all of our lives for the sake of all of God’s glory in all of the world (Radical, 83). Radical outlines what this radical lifestyle looks like and Radical Together explains how this might look like in and through churches and Christian communities of faith.
Platt begins Radical with an explanation of the biblical gospel. He argues that “the modern-day gospel says, ‘God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.’ Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, ‘You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do.'” (32) Platt adds: “Salvation now consists of a deep wrestling in our souls with the sinfulness of our hearts, the depth of our depravity, and the desperation of our need for his grace. Jesus is no longer one to be accepted or invited in but one who is infinitely worthy of our immediate and total surrender.” (39)
I don’t know about you, but those words truly grab me. Jesus is one who is infinitely worthy of our immediate and total surrender! When one truly understands the beauty of the biblical gospel, one cannot but multiply this gospel to the ends of the earth. As Platt writes: “They believe God has shown them great grace in order that he might use them to accomplish the glorious, global, God-exalting purpose that has been primary since the beginning of time, and they don’t want to settle for anything less than radical abandonment to that purpose.” (84) God blesses his people with extravagant grace so that they might extend his extravagant glory to all peoples on the earth.” (69)
In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus describes what his new community of followers are like: they are all about making disciples of all nations. Platt summarizes Jesus’ parting words in Matthew 28 in this way: “…to multiply people who enjoy God’s grace and extend his glory around the world.” (93) This includes a number of steps. This involves going – “taking the gospel to people where they live, work, and play.” (93-4) People then become part of the community of faith through baptism. “In our relationships with one another in the body of Christ, we are to be continually teaching one another the Word of Christ.” (99) But it continues. Making disciples also is about enabling people who come to faith “to do the same thing in other people’s lives — this is the plan God has for each of us to impact nations for the glory of Christ.” (103)
While churches might be busy making disciples by going, baptizing, teaching, and multiplying, there still remains “a blind spot” in many, if not most, churches in the West. The blind spot is the relationship between wealthy Christians and a world of poverty. Platt devotes an entire chapter to this issue of social justice. Platt does not pretend to be an economist. He simply shares his story and challenges the reader “to let the gospel radically transform the way you understand and use your possessions.”(113) He asks this question, “What would happen if we stopped asking how much we could spare and started asking how much it was going to take?” (130) As Platt and his church started to ponder on that question, they began to discover “the joy of a radical gospel inside of us that produces radical fruit outside of us. And as we meet needs on earth, we are proclaiming a gospel that transforms lives for eternity. The point is not simply to meet a temporary need or change a startling statistic; the point is to exalt the glory of Christ as we express the gospel of Christ through the radical generosity of our lives.” (135)
Here then is the experiment, the challenge Platt gives in his book. “The challenge is for one year, and it involves five components. I dare you over the next year to …
pray for the entire world;
read through the entire Word;
sacrifice your money for a specific purpose;
spend your time in another context;
commit your life to a multiplying community.”(185)
In the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, there is a church that has taken on Platt’s “dare”. One Hope Community Church decided to strategically take on this “dare” in 2014. Glenn Dekker, pastor of One Hope writes: “We’ve found this book has confronted us with getting radical with the word of God and his mission on this earth. As a result we have been reading through the bible in one year as a church, and preaching from the relevant section each week. We have found God speaking to us in new and challenging ways from his word. Those of us who have been Christians for a long time so easily dismiss / contextualize the words of God/Jesus.”
Not only does One Hope read (and preach) through the entire Word, they have also been praying for the entire world. Each Sunday the gathered community is given information about a place in the world — a people group, a country, a spot on the map — and are encouraged to intentionally pray for this part of God’s world. And One Hope is no stranger to sacrificing their money and time for the disadvantaged in our world. Through the Hope Builders organisation, they have been breaking the cycle of poverty is places like Uganda, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and India.
Pastor Glenn Dekker adds: “At the same time as reading this book and the Bible I have been meeting with someone who is exploring the Christian faith. Almost weekly she has been offended by the Bible and what God/Jesus asks of his followers. After reading some of the passages that David Platt explores she has been left angry, in tears and totally confronted by what it would take to become a follower of Jesus. At the same time the message of God’s grace is sinking deeper and deeper into her heart each week. She is left with no unreal expectations of what it will mean for her to be a Christian. Radical does a great job confronting our complacent western culturalised lives, hitting us with God’s love and grace and inspiring us to action.”
So here is a “dare” of my own! Buy a number of copies of the book Radical and give them to the key leaders in your church. This book might leave you angry and totally confronted by what it would take to be a follower of Jesus. But may it also inspire you to action — yourself, your church leaders, your whole congregation — radical obedience and discipleship to Christ! I dare you! Your life could be turned upside down. All of this, in just one year!
Check out the website www.radicalthebook.com. Platt offers many helps, more stories, and further links, to assist you as you abandon everything for the gospel.