Radical Review- Chapter 1

Radical Review- Chapter 1

My good friend Canyon posted a review of David Platt’s book Radical on his blog and asked for my comments. Rather than responding to each of his points, I am simply going to provide a summary of each chapter and my brief thoughts on Dr. Platt’s work. Be warned ahead of time that I will be providing a summary that may spoil some of the book for you if you have not read it. I am not as eloquent a speaker or writer as Dr. Platt though, so I am sure that I will not ruin it too much.

What Radical Abandonment to Jesus Really Means

Dr. Platt spends much of the first chapter contrasting the call of Jesus during His ministry with our commitment to Him today. To emphasize his point, Dr. Platt appeals to some of the more outrageous statements that Jesus made during His ministry.

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
(Luke 9:23)

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
(John 6:53-54)

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
(Luke 9:57-62)

Each of these statements stands in stark contrast with the modern message that Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Take up your instrument of torture and follow me. Drink my blood and feed off of my flesh. Abandon your life and let the dead bury their own. If nothing else, Dr. Platt does a good job of getting our attention in the first chapter. However he does not stop there.

Dr. Platt also gives several examples of churches in other countries where people have given up everything to follow Christ. He is quick to point out that these people have done so gladly. They take joy in their persecution and consider themselves blessed just to be able to hear the Gospel. When one contrasts this with the church in America it is not too difficult to see that our idea of persecution and suffering is not the same as the rest of the world.

There are two contrasting points that I took out of the first chapter. The first is quite simple: am I really ready to abandon my own desires and pursuits to follow Christ? Or as the first chapter is aptly titled (slightly paraphrased) is Jesus someone worth losing everything for? While it is quite easy to answer this question yes, it is far more difficult to show by our actions that we believe what we are affirming.

The second point is how do I respond to this call to follow Christ without tying myself to some sort of legalistic obligation? Am I being radical enough? Dr. Platt addresses this some in an online conversation with Kevin DeYoung. We should not be responding to the call out of fear or obligation but out of our love to Christ and His call to obedience. The trick is to figure out if you are really following Jesus or merely paying Him lip service.

What I see in the first chapter is a simple call. Jesus said “Follow me.” Are you following Him? Are you really ready to give up anything to follow Him? I can certainly understand why this chapter was chosen to be the booklet entitled “The Radical Question”. It gets your attention and challenges you (the reader) to examine yourself. The call to examine yourself is Biblical and we should constantly be on guard against becoming complacent. I will leave you today with Paul’s words:

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
(2Corinthians 13:5)