Discovering the Truth and Beauty of the Gospel
I just want to say one thing right off the bat. This chapter is crazy and there is no way I can fit everything in this little blog post. Prepare to get rocked.
How dedicated are you to learning about God and spending time with him?
Dedicated enough to spend 8 hours in a bible study? Enough to give up your job for weeks at a time? This is the dedication of Christians in countries where Christianity is illegal. Now look at America. We complain that church isn't over soon enough and we are ticked off because we might miss kick off of our favorite football team. Really? Unfortunately this is how many people act...
The environment of the church needs some major work in some areas and radical Christianity is where it starts.
Who He Really Is
The gospel reveals the glory of God and that he is the sovereign Creator of all things. He is righteous in all his way, just in all his wrath, and loving toward all he has made. Do you ever wonder if we intentionally mask some of God's attributes? If you look at the Christian marketplace, you see songs, paintings, and books that all talk about God's love. Every where we turn we see people saying what a loving Father God is. While this is completely true, this is only part of who God really is. So many times people like to look away when people start to mention God as a righteous judge.
In his wrath he hates sin, but now you ask, "What happened to 'God hates the sin and loves the sinner'?" Well the Bible happened to this phrase. There is a psalm that says "The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong." Yeahhhhh.
Far too often we enjoy our little cliches and ignore God as a judge who damns us. It is time to make a change and start to recognize God as he really is in the Bible.
In our sinful state, we are not ready to give God what he asks for because our hearts are set against him. God's revelation in the gospel not only reveals who he is, but it also reveals who we are.
Who We Really Are
We are all born sinners. We are all born wanting to rebel against God. God has given us the free will to choose and we always find ways to mess it up. Think about it, when God commands the sea to calm, it calms. When he commands the clouds to part, the clouds part. All of creation listens to every word that God speaks, except us. We have the audacity to look in God's face and say "No" when the rest of creation obeys without question.
Our situation may seem pretty sad at this point, but it kind of is. We are all sinners and we can only overcome that sin with the works of Christ. This leads us to the next section...
What (or Whom) We Really Need
Jesus. We. Need. Jesus.
Now I'm sure you are now thinking,"Yes, I need Jesus. I know he died for me on the cross and payed the price" and you end it there. That's not even half of it. When Jesus was sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane he was not afraid of what the Roman soldiers were going to do to him.
There are many examples of people singing at the gallows and Christians singing as they are being executed. Did they have more courage than Jesus? No, I don't think so.
There is one thing that those Christians did not have to face.
Divine Wrath.
Jesus took all of the wrath of God when he died on the cross. The cup Jesus took was the cup filled with the wrath of God, not some wooden cross with nails. We talk down the crucifixion so much and belittle it to just the cross. Jesus paid so much for all of the sins in the world; past, present, and future. One pastor described it like this:
Imagine you and I were standing a short hundred yards away from a dam of water ten thousand miles high and ten thousand miles wide. all of sudden that dam was breached, and a torrential flood of water came crashing toward us. Right before it reached our feet, the ground in front of us opened up and swallowed it all. At the Cross, Christ drank the full cup of the wrath of God, and when he had downed the last drop, he turned the cup over and cried out, "It is finished."
Now I'm going to tackle the last part of the chapter. I'm just going to go over it quickly and point out some of the main points.
After David talks about the price that Jesus paid, he asks us what we have done with this message of the Gospel. He presents the idea that we have turned the Gospel into a shrink wrapped package. For example, come up front, repeat this prayer, sign this sheet, and you are a Christian! Now this might bother some people, but just think about it. Don't we make it that way? I know that I have seen this and I'm not saying that this is a sin to come to Jesus that way, but it's just an observation that has been made. Shouldn't there be a little more passion in coming to Christ rather than just repeating a prayer and walking out the door?
The next idea we are presented with is the idea that we "accept" Jesus in to our hearts. Think about it. We have been fed this idea for our all of our lives that we need to "accept" Jesus. As if Jesus, Son of God, needs our acceptance. If anything, we should be praying for Jesus to accept us. Just another interesting observation.
Now you may be thinking that we need to be radically obedient to Jesus in order to "earn" his salvation. Not true. In the Bible it says we are saved by grace, through faith, so that no one can boast. Nothing we can do can earn us a spot in Heaven. We are fallen and it is only by God's grace that we can have salvation. We are eternally dependent on him and cannot do anything without his strength. This reinforces the idea that in everything we do, we need to give glory to God. We can do nothing without him. Thank goodness that it is by grace we are saved, and not our small little works.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Chapter 1: Someone Worth Losing Everything For
What Radical Abandonment To Jesus Really Means
Well I just want to start out by saying that trying to put everything from chapter 1 in this blog post is not going to happen. I really would encourage you to go out and buy the book if you haven't already, because it really is just awesome. You can buy it here.
I will be trying to cover most of the main points in the chapter and give my thoughts and opinions on it along with the thoughts and opinions of my fellow Christians who are doing this study with me.
David starts the book out by inviting us to go on this journey with him. He doesn't claim to have all the answers. He might even present more questions than answers, but he wants to dive in to the Bible and figure out what it really means to be a Radical Christian
Puddle of Tears
David opens up with a story of how Christians in other countries. Here is an excerpt.
"Imagine all the blinds closed on the windows of a dimly lit room. Twenty leaders from different churches in the area sat in a circle on the floor with their Bibles open. Some of them had sweat on their foreheads after walking for miles to get there. Others were dirty form the dust in the villages from which they had set out on bikes early that morning.
They had gathered in secret. They had intentionally come to this place at different times throughout the morning so as not to draw attention to the meeting that was occurring. They lived in a country in Asia where it is illegal for them to gather like this. If caught, they could lose their land, their jobs, their families, or their lives."
Now this is still the beginning of the book..wow.
After reading this, I was just like...really? Christians in Asia are risking their life every day to be in fellowship with one another, yet there are Christians in America who complain that they have to go to church on Sundays...hmmmm.
He goes on to say how desperate people are in Asia and how they are crying out to God to protect them as they live their lives for him.
So, would you worship God if you meant risking your life?
We are very blessed here in America, yet some people take it for granted, the religious freedom we have.
Another point David makes is about the number of people attending your church. There are mega churches out there today, and David is a pastor of one of them, and there are mini churches with just around 100 believers. Many of these churches always are worrying about their attendance and how they can increase it. David mentions how they are thinking the wrong way. How many followers did Jesus have when he ascended into Heaven?....
Around 200.
So why are we worried about the numbers? Instead we should be worrying about filling ourselves with the Spirit and the Word of God.
Next I am going to go over the topic that really is interesting.
Christianity is becoming about catering to ourselves rather than abandoning ourselves. Well the Bible clearly says we are to abandon ourselves, so why do we continue to cater to ourselves and ignore the Bible? Hmm.
In Luke 9 there are many examples of abandonment. In fact, Jesus is very stern and straight to the point when answering people who want to follow him. If you want to read the verses, they are Luke 9:57-62. It's some really Radical stuff.
Unfortunately, many people like to ignore verses like this and only think of the loving and nice Jesus. While Jesus is very loving and nice, He also expects a lot out of us. We are twisting Jesus into what we want him to be, and by doing this, we end up worshiping ourselves rather than the Jesus of the Bible.
This next part of the chapter is just an interesting section. David comments on the priorities of some churches and just gives us this information to form an opinion about. He is reading to us from a magazine where it says that a Baptist church is celebrating a new $23 million dollar building with all kinds of nice things in it. Right beside that article in a different column is an article about a Baptist church sending money over to Sudan to help the people living there. Guess how much money they sent....
$5,000.
I really don't even need to talk about it anymore, I'm sure you can make your own opinions on the priorities of the church today. Once gain it gets back to comforting the self.
As we get to the end of the chapter, David talks about the treasures in Heaven and how we need to stop investing in these so called treasures of the earth that will just eventually fade away. He then asks the question, "Is Jesus worth it?"
Is he worth following to make a difference in peoples' lives?
Is he worth trying to save the soul of another person?
Is he worth suffering for?
Is he worth dieing for?....
There are so many other things in this chapter that I could point out, but I'm sure this post is getting huge enough as it is. I really encourage you to go out and buy the book. It really would make understanding this a bit easier. Ha. Well stay tuned for the next post. It will be about Chapter 2: Too Hungry For Words.
Thank you guys for reading this and please comment below if you have any comments or suggestions. You do not have to be a member of this site to comment, just click where it says the number of comments to write a comment and I would appreciate it if you put your name at the end if you are not a member of this site. Thanks again!
God Bless,
Tyler
Well I just want to start out by saying that trying to put everything from chapter 1 in this blog post is not going to happen. I really would encourage you to go out and buy the book if you haven't already, because it really is just awesome. You can buy it here.
I will be trying to cover most of the main points in the chapter and give my thoughts and opinions on it along with the thoughts and opinions of my fellow Christians who are doing this study with me.
David starts the book out by inviting us to go on this journey with him. He doesn't claim to have all the answers. He might even present more questions than answers, but he wants to dive in to the Bible and figure out what it really means to be a Radical Christian
Puddle of Tears
David opens up with a story of how Christians in other countries. Here is an excerpt.
"Imagine all the blinds closed on the windows of a dimly lit room. Twenty leaders from different churches in the area sat in a circle on the floor with their Bibles open. Some of them had sweat on their foreheads after walking for miles to get there. Others were dirty form the dust in the villages from which they had set out on bikes early that morning.
They had gathered in secret. They had intentionally come to this place at different times throughout the morning so as not to draw attention to the meeting that was occurring. They lived in a country in Asia where it is illegal for them to gather like this. If caught, they could lose their land, their jobs, their families, or their lives."
Now this is still the beginning of the book..wow.
After reading this, I was just like...really? Christians in Asia are risking their life every day to be in fellowship with one another, yet there are Christians in America who complain that they have to go to church on Sundays...hmmmm.
He goes on to say how desperate people are in Asia and how they are crying out to God to protect them as they live their lives for him.
So, would you worship God if you meant risking your life?
We are very blessed here in America, yet some people take it for granted, the religious freedom we have.
Another point David makes is about the number of people attending your church. There are mega churches out there today, and David is a pastor of one of them, and there are mini churches with just around 100 believers. Many of these churches always are worrying about their attendance and how they can increase it. David mentions how they are thinking the wrong way. How many followers did Jesus have when he ascended into Heaven?....
Around 200.
So why are we worried about the numbers? Instead we should be worrying about filling ourselves with the Spirit and the Word of God.
Next I am going to go over the topic that really is interesting.
Christianity is becoming about catering to ourselves rather than abandoning ourselves. Well the Bible clearly says we are to abandon ourselves, so why do we continue to cater to ourselves and ignore the Bible? Hmm.
In Luke 9 there are many examples of abandonment. In fact, Jesus is very stern and straight to the point when answering people who want to follow him. If you want to read the verses, they are Luke 9:57-62. It's some really Radical stuff.
Unfortunately, many people like to ignore verses like this and only think of the loving and nice Jesus. While Jesus is very loving and nice, He also expects a lot out of us. We are twisting Jesus into what we want him to be, and by doing this, we end up worshiping ourselves rather than the Jesus of the Bible.
This next part of the chapter is just an interesting section. David comments on the priorities of some churches and just gives us this information to form an opinion about. He is reading to us from a magazine where it says that a Baptist church is celebrating a new $23 million dollar building with all kinds of nice things in it. Right beside that article in a different column is an article about a Baptist church sending money over to Sudan to help the people living there. Guess how much money they sent....
$5,000.
I really don't even need to talk about it anymore, I'm sure you can make your own opinions on the priorities of the church today. Once gain it gets back to comforting the self.
As we get to the end of the chapter, David talks about the treasures in Heaven and how we need to stop investing in these so called treasures of the earth that will just eventually fade away. He then asks the question, "Is Jesus worth it?"
Is he worth following to make a difference in peoples' lives?
Is he worth trying to save the soul of another person?
Is he worth suffering for?
Is he worth dieing for?....
There are so many other things in this chapter that I could point out, but I'm sure this post is getting huge enough as it is. I really encourage you to go out and buy the book. It really would make understanding this a bit easier. Ha. Well stay tuned for the next post. It will be about Chapter 2: Too Hungry For Words.
Thank you guys for reading this and please comment below if you have any comments or suggestions. You do not have to be a member of this site to comment, just click where it says the number of comments to write a comment and I would appreciate it if you put your name at the end if you are not a member of this site. Thanks again!
God Bless,
Tyler
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
About David Platt
This was taken from http://www.radicalthebook.com/author.html.
Dr. David Platt is the pastor of the Church at Brook Hills, a four-thousand-member congregation in Birmingham, Alabama, comprised of world-impacting disciples who really believe that as a church they can shake the nations for God’s glory.
David’s first love in ministry is disciple making—teaching God’s Word, mentoring others, and multiplying the gospel. “I believe that God has uniquely created every one of his people to impact the world,” he says. “Some may count this view as idealistic, but I believe it is thoroughly biblical—rooted in Psalm 67:1–2, yet found in Scripture from beginning to end. God is in the business of blessing his people so that his ways and his salvation might be made known among all people.” To this end, David has traveled throughout the United States and around the world, teaching the Bible and training church leaders.
David has earned two undergraduate degrees from the University of Georgia and three advanced degrees, including a doctor of philosophy from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to coming to Brook Hills, he served the seminary as dean of chapel and assistant professor of expository preaching and apologetics and was on staff at Edgewater Baptist Church in New Orleans.
David and his wife, Heather, are Atlanta natives who made their home in New Orleans until they were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. They live with their family in Birmingham.
Listen to David talk about what compelled him to write this book:
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