The other week I received the book "Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God" by David Platt, which is the follow up book to "Radical". His question that led to writing this book was "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." He then spends the rest of the book wrestling with how a community of followers of Jesus (and not just individuals) live out a radical Jesus life together.
He organizes the book around six ideas that he believes (in his words) are foundational for Christians who desire to be a part of churches that are unleashing people in the world with the gospel. The six ideas are:
1. One of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in the church. 2. The gospel that saves us from works 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 are selfless followers of a self-centered God.
Overall I appreciated the book and it gave me some concrete thoughts and things to apply within Veritas, albeit on a much smaller scale that the authors church. (For instance, really getting serious about tithing our giving each week to some missions/ministries outside ourselves like Living Water International or Blood Water Mission or North Star Initiative or Heads Up both here in Lancaster.)
Some quotes that stood out to me include:
"Are you and I personally willing to put everything in our lives on the table for Christ to determine what needs to stay and what needs to go?"
"The Gospel is the reason for radical living"
(Love this prayer) "Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am."
"What if growing the church was never intended to depend on creating a good performance with all the right people on the stage?"
"Make disciples who will make disciples who will make disciples, and together multiply this gospel to all peoples."
"What if each of us were actually making disciples who were making disciples who were making disciples?"
"We are exhorted to see ourselves as missionaries in our cities, and we are encouraged to engage our cultures with the gospel." (The quote goes on to say that you need to be more than just living out the kingdom locally but also seeking to live out the kingdom globally as well.)
And lastly... "We said to God, 'Wherever you want us to go, whatever you want us to do, however you want us to live, we give our lives and our family for you to spend in making the gospel and your glory known to the ends of the earth, particularly among those who have never heard the gospel." A prayer that my wife and I need to be praying together and separately.
One last thing is that there is a study guide in the back of the book for groups that might want to use the book as a small group resource or a call that might want to use it for a sermon series type small group. This might come in handy for future discussions within Veritas.
Just so you know.... “I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”