A Radically Revolutionary Book

I welcome any opportunity to read a David Platt book so when Book Sneeze made “Radical Together” available for review, I jumped in to soak up the words.

I was not disappointed.

It was a non-stop adventure through what it means to be radical together as a church.  He sets the tone for this theme with the opening question on page 3:

How can we in the church best unleash the people of god

In the spirit of god with the word of god

For the Glory of god in the world?

How, David?  Well… he tells us how and he does it by addressing six main points:

1. One of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in the church
2. The gospel that saves us from work saves us to work
3. The word does the work
4. Building the right church depends on using all the wrong people
5. We are living and longing for the end of the world
6. We’re selfless followers of a self-centered god

However, there is a warning I would issue here; if you are not ready and/or willing to make radical changes, you will fight against the radical ideas David proposes.  Radical ideas like:

• The last thing you and I want to do is waste our lives on religious activity that is devoid of spiritual productivity—being active in the church but not advancing the kingdom of God.
• As Christians today, you and I can easily deceive ourselves into thinking that dedication to church programs automatically equals devotion to kingdom purposes
• David Platt challenges us to let go of the good things in order to achieve greater purposes.

I think we can all admit, letting go isn’t easy and letting go of what seems good is even harder.  His challenge, after his stated thesis, unrolls in this claim:

Put EVERYTHING on the table.

Meaning, bring all things before God for His approval, no matter how good you think they are.  And in this, David begins to show radical submission, radical work for the Lord, radical sacrifices, and radical living.

He does all this first and foremost by sharing what God’s Word says about every single topic his thesis sets out to address.  He challenges people, churches, and preachers to remember: God’s Word does all the work, we are but instruments for Him to use in spreading it.

I could talk, in great excitement, for hours on the lessons and encouragement gained from this little book.  It was an easy read with a tough but great message for modern times.  It includes resources for small group study and links to his and other websites which contain further FREE resources helpful in growing radically together.

 (to name a few!)

Soaking up this information may have only taken a few days… but the impact will certainly last a life time.  A must-read for every Christian, and especially for every Christian in a leadership position.

Be radical, Jesus was.

Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

-  Matthew 10:39

* This book review is my opinion alone.  Blogging For Books provided this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.