Into the Book

4

Radical Together - David Platt

Recommended
Most times, when I read a book for Into the Book, I’ll give it a rating of ‘good.’ Sometimes, I’ll go so far as to call a book ‘great.’ A few times I’ve probably used the label ‘bad’ or even ‘terrible.’ But I don’t think that I have ever used the label ‘life-changing’ – that is, not until now. Radical Together, but David Platt, is quite possibly the best book I have read all year, and maybe even in the past five years. Radical Together calls us, as the Church, to return to the Gospel and the ultimate goal given to us by Christ: proclaim that Gospel to the ends of the earth.

This is not an easy book to read. What I mean is, though it’s quite short, and easy to follow, its message is disturbingly clear. In Radical Together David Platt calls us to an emphasis in today’s churches on the Gospel, more specifically, on reaching people around the world with the Gospel. What this book does is that it shakes us out of our complacency, our focus on ‘us,’ and redirects us to the areas we need to be focusing on.

Platt doesn’t try to cover everything in this book; instead, he drills down on six specific topics, each of which make up a chapter in the book. In Chapter 1, dubbed Tyranny of the Good, Platt examines truly good things in the church that are, nevertheless, distracting us from more important works elsewhere, like fulfilling the Great Commission. Chapter 2 is the straight gospel: Platt’s message in this chapter is that the Gospel which saves us from works saves us to work. In a world where the gospel is not politically correct and more and more churches are abandoning it, hearing this straight proclamation of Jesus Christ who died on the cross was amazingly encouraging.

Platt also touches on other subjects. In chapter 4 he explains how building the church is not dependent on a few superstars, but rather every single member of the church. He writes that according to today’s church leaders, Jesus builds a church with all the ‘wrong’ people – yet these ordinary people are the ones impacting Christ’s kingdom. In the last two chapters Platt draws our attention to the fact that our life is geared towards the end of the world; and not the things on this earth which will pass away. He also reminds us Who exactly we are following.

Overall, I found almost nothing wrong with Radical Together (My one nitpick would be what seems to be a trend in today’s books, namely, ‘unleashing’ the people of God. Platt explains this term and I think uses it appropriately, but the idea of ‘unleashing’ people still smacks a little bit too much of self-sufficiency for my liking). I highly recommend it for you to read. So read it, give it to your pastor, give it to your family, your friends, the cashier at McDonalds – pass this book and its message along, because it is one that desperately needs to be heard.

4 comments:

  1. I really like David. He walks the walk, humanly, of course, but he is passionate about Christ. He really makes you think. Thanks for sharing this, Andrew.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Kaitlyn: He does make you think; but he also makes you want to act.

    @Corey: Oh, it's more than good :D People have had trouble shutting me up from talking about this book; it's that good.

    In Christ,
    Andrew

    ReplyDelete
  3. I haven't read Radical Together; however, I was deeply challenged by Radical. I have the same problem...I talk too much about the book and I'm sure people are getting sick of hearing about it from me. Thanks for sharing about this book - just wondering if it would work for a small group study.

    ReplyDelete

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