I am continuing my review of David Platt’s book Radical. In the fifth chapter he takes on how to extend God’s glory.
The Multiplying Community
One might expect a radical plan in a book called Radical for fulfilling God’s plan to extend His glory. Perhaps we need to have bigger churches or have bigger shows to attract more people? Maybe we need to be more in tune with what is current and relevant? Thankfully, Dr. Platt does not suggest any of these options. Instead he recommends that we follow the example of Christ and simply make disciples.
Dr. Platt then turns his attention to problems with this plan for a multiplying community. The first problem is that most people do not know what it means to make disciples. When we look at what Jesus did it is not that difficult to see. He walked with His disciples. He prayed with them. He instructed and corrected them. It was a slow and tedious process, but in the end, it is what He thanked His Father for prior to going to the cross.
The second problem, although touched on only very briefly by Platt, is that we are a results driven country. We want the quick and easy way. We are constantly looking for ways to streamline processes and make them more efficient. Making disciples the way that Jesus did is a messy slow process and it may take a while to see results.
However, it is easy to contrast the way that we operate today vs. the disciple making process in the Bible and see the differences. Great shows with great speakers entertain us and leave us with a desire to be entertained again. This fills church pews and keeps the congregation happy. I must ask though, how many of those that are being entertained on Sunday are looking for ways to bring others to Christ? The vast majority are looking for their spiritual entertainment for the week so that they can feel good about being pious.
The slow process of making disciples has different results. It results in followers who are hungry for righteousness and eager for others to share their knowledge and love of God. I have been blessed to be part of such a small group where disciples were made. My good friend Dave Snyder started a Bible study in his house a few years ago and I think that this is exactly the type of process that Dr. Platt has in mind when he uses the example of the Cuban house churches.
Dr. Platt also related a story of him being a disciple of Jim Shaddix. He enjoyed following Jim to the point of actually going running with him despite not being a runner. I personally would have enjoyed the story more if Dr. Platt had been the runner and the one discipling him had been the one to go out of his comfort zone. As Paul states:
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
(1Corinthians 9:20-23)
There is nothing wrong with the story that Dr. Platt relates but I would suggest that if we want to make disciples of others then we must be willing to find common interests with them.
Overall, I enjoyed this chapter and I appreciate the underlying math involved. If we have large congregations where nobody is being discipled then what are we really accomplishing? However, if one person can disciple two other people and those people learn from that and pass it on then we are quickly moving into exponential growth. This is what Jesus did and to think that we can improve on the model is not Biblical.
No comments:
Post a Comment