I had already shared my problems with David Platt’s book, Radical, a few months ago. Still having a few chapters left at that time, I finished this book this week and still have the same soul-stirring problems when I started it. Platt is so dedicated to God’s Word and his commission. I just pray it is contagious in my heart and in others.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you. Platt’s desire to shake complacency off of American Christians is much needed. His premise that many of us are putting a Christian spin on the American Dream is a wakeup call to all believers. He not only teaches this, he is doing this and leading an existing church to adopt it as well.
While the book is full of great lines and wonderful teaching, I attempted to provide 5 of the main ideas from the book.
Top 5 Lines:
1. “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” (7).
2. “This is where I am most convinced as a pastor of a church in the United States of America. I am part of a system that has created a whole host of means and methods, plans and strategies for doing church that require little if any power from God” (49).
3. “Because if ‘God loves me’ is the message of Christianity, then who is the object of Christianity?…Christianity’s object is me. Therefore, when I look for a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family…but it is not biblical Christianity” (70).
4. “What if you and I decided that having a $50,000 salary doesn’t necessitate living a $50,000 lifestyle? What if you and I had simple caps on our lifestyles and were free to give the rest of our resources away for the glory of Christ in the neediest parts of the world?” (128).
5. “You and I stand on the porch of eternity. Both of us will soon stand before God to give an account for our stewardship of the time, the resources, the gifts, and ultimately the gospel he has entrusted to us. When that day comes, I am convinced we will not wish we had given more of ourselves to living the American dream. We will not wish we had more money, acquired more stuff, lived more comfortably, taken more vacations, watched more television, pursued greater retirement, or been more successful in the eyes of this world. Instead we will wish we had given more of ourselves to living for the day when every nation, tribe, people, and language will bow around the throne and sing the praises of the Savior who delights in radical obedience and the God who deserves eternal worship” (217).
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.