Book Review: David Platt's "Radical"

This is a simple book, and it is not a perfect book, but it is also one of the most important books that I have ever read, and I strongly recommend it to everyone. The main thrust of the book is this – contemporary American Christianity has largely ignored the radical nature of Jesus’s teaching. In particular, it has largely ignored Jesus’s radical command to preach the gospel to all nations, and it has largely ignored His radical command to make great sacrifices for the poor. Christ called His followers to go and make disciples of all nations. He also called them to renounce the pursuit of wealth and dedicate their time, talents, and money to serving the poor, the homeless, the sick, and other hurting peoples. The gospels are replete with passages that promise hellfire for those who fail to confess Jesus before others, and for those who value material possessions more than the needs of the poor. But many Christians in America today have convinced themselves that these teachings don’t really apply to them. Jesus must have been talking about some other guy, they reason, as they continue to acquire luxury items and neglect to evangelize.

I am convinced that Platt’s diagnosis of American Christianity is correct. However, I won’t review the evidence for his diagnosis here – the evidence is all around us, really, and it should be clear to anyone who is reading this. Be that as it may, I want to discuss Platt’s suggestions for remedying the crisis in American Christianity, and for answering Jesus’s call to make disciples of all nations and serve the poor (and other hurting peoples). The review is a bit long, but I believe that it organizes the central insights of Platt’s book in a way that might not be completely obvious to the casual reader. If you make it through the review, I hope that you find it helpful, and that you decide to read the book.

So then, how should we answer Christ’s radical commands to preach the gospel and serve the poor? Platt doesn’t suggest any one-size-fits-all formulas here, and in fact he explicitly denies that there are such formulas. However, he does provide some useful guidelines that are grounded in Scripture.

First, Platt notes that while Jesus tells one rich man to sell all of his positions and donate the money to the poor (Mark 10), Jesus doesn’t command everyone to do this. For example, Jesus praises Zacchaeus, a tax collector, for pledging to sell only half of his possessions (Luke 19). And, Jesus doesn’t seem to command that everyone sell even half of their possessions. So, Platt rightly concludes, Jesus commands some people to sell everything and donate the money to the poor, but He doesn’t command everyone to do so. This raises some important, difficult questions. How do we know what Jesus calls us to do? Does Jesus call us to sell everything we own and donate the money to the poor? Does He call us to sell half of everything we own? Less than half? And how do we know?

Platt reminds us that Jesus commands His followers to forsake luxury. He also reminds us that Jesus commands His followers to give in ways that are hard – to give from their need, not from their surplus. These two commands are simple to understand, but they are hard to follow. At any rate, they provide clear guidelines for how we should approach money. We should sell our luxuries and donate the money to the poor, and we should avoid buying luxuries in the future. Most of what we own are luxuries, and they should probably be sold or given away. This is a hard teaching; but, if we are honest with ourselves, then we will admit that Jesus teaches precisely this. We may find it painful to sell expensive televisions and high-end cars, but they are luxuries, and we definitely do not need them. It is not wrong to own a television, and it is certainly not wrong to own a car; but, our televisions, cars, homes, and clothing could probably all be more modest and less luxurious than they actually are. Should we sell or give everything away immediately? Not necessarily. But we should start making some real sacrifices.

If we are honest with ourselves, we often know what counts as a real sacrifice. I have a large book collection, and I love my books. They are my most prized possessions, and I value them more than money. Now, I am an academic, and I need some of these books for my research. However, if I were honest with myself, I would see that I do not need even half of these books. There is a lesson here that I must take to heart – I should sell many of my books and donate the money to people who really need it. Would it be hard to sell these books? Yes, but that does not mean that they are necessities. They are luxuries, and I am probably called to sell them. Again, Jesus doesn’t say that we should give only if it is easy. In fact, He says that we must give when it is hard. If we aren’t giving in ways that are truly hard, then we aren’t truly following Jesus.

Platt discusses John Wesley, the Methodist preacher. At an early age, Wesley realized that he did not need more than $20,000 a year (in today’s terms) to maintain a comfortable life; and, he continued to live on $20,000 a year for the rest of his life, even though he eventually made about $160,000 a year (again, in today’s terms). Wesley is a good role model for all of us. We should all consider our finances very carefully, decide upon a modest amount to live on, and donate the rest. We should consider our dependents, and we can plan for the future. But we should try to live on an amount that is modest and that imposes real sacrifices on us. For many American Christians, this would require a significant change in lifestyle. But again, this is precisely what Jesus calls us to do. There may be many grey areas, but many areas are perfectly black and white, and we would know exactly what to do if we were honest with ourselves.

I want to say one more thing about Jesus’s command to make radical sacrifices for the poor. Platt notes that Jesus repeatedly teaches that no one can follow Him while rejecting this command, and he also notes that Jesus promises hellfire for those who don't follow Him. In other words, Jesus is telling us that we are very likely to end up in hell if we don’t make radical sacrifices for the poor. Don’t believe me? Go back and read Matthew 6:24, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 16:19-30, Luke 18:18-30, and Luke19:1-10. (James 5:1-6 is another good passage.) The point that I want to make is this: we shouldn’t be motivated to make radical sacrifices for the poor simply out of a concern to avoid hell. Instead, we should be motivated by the fact that it is God’s will to help the poor; that God has sacrificed everything for us; that nothing is truly ours, but really God’s; and, finally, that it will bring us peace here on earth. What’s that? Giving away my luxuries will bring me peace? Yes. How? Simple. If we find it hard to give away our luxuries, then we are enslaved to them, and it is a sorry thing to be enslaved to consumer goods. Also, luxuries can never provide us with true well-being or true happiness. The comfort they promise is an illusion. True peace, well-being, and happiness consist in love of God and self-sacrificial service. We all know this deep down. Many of us are afraid to accept it, but we shouldn’t be – God Himself is for us, so we have nothing to fear. Alright, I think I have said enough on this topic.

Second, Platt provides some useful suggestions for evangelization. He begins by noting that it is impossible to make true disciples overnight, and that disciplining new Christians is often a slow, messy process. He also notes that it requires relationships – we can’t do very much to disciple people who are complete strangers to us. If we take these insights seriously, as I believe we should, then I think that we will naturally be led to evangelize in contexts where we can build relationships. For many of us, this will mean evangelizing at home, in our local communities. Platt doesn’t make this inference explicit, but he seems to believe that most of us should pursue evangelization in our local communities for the reasons cited here. Nonetheless, Platt also urges everyone to consider spending some time evangelizing outside our local communities, whether in our home countries or abroad. There are many organizations that provide opportunities to evangelize in foreign countries, and many churches support missionary activities as well. Some of us will be called to serve as full-time missionaries, but most will not. For those of us who aren’t called to such a vocation, I think that Platt would urge us to look primarily to our local communities for the reasons given above, while also spending some time outside our local communities. This is great advice, and it is grounded in Scripture as well as experience. Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations, which certainly involves evangelizing outside of our local communities. At the same time, the gospels (not to mention Paul's letters) plainly testify that discipling new believers is a long, complex process that requires relationships, which should also lead us to look to our local communities. Whether we spend more time in our local community or outside it will doubtless depend on many factors, but Platt’s insights into the nature of discipling new believers can help us all to discern where exactly our call may lie.

Two more points. While we do not always need to be engaged in discipling new believers when we evangelize (sometimes we may just preach the gospel to complete strangers), Jesus clearly commands us to make disciples, and we should take this command very seriously. Also, must of us will need to concentrate our attention on our local communities for practical reasons (e.g., work), but Platt notes that there are plenty of ways to support evangelism outside of one’s local community that do not require one to leave home.

Time to wrap things up. Jesus commands His followers to make disciples of all nations, and He commands them to make great sacrifices for the poor. These commands are radical, and they are hard to follow. In particular, they challenge us to pledge a good deal of our money and time to others. They also involve some practical complications – even if we are willing to pledge our money and time, it isn’t always clear what Jesus is calling us to do for the poor, and it isn’t always clear how Jesus is calling us to evangelize. Platt reminds us of these commands, and he provides us with great encouragement to follow them. He also provides us with a wealth of practical advice for determining how we might follow them. This advice is drawn from a few simple principles that are clearly found in Scripture, and I think that experience will prove it effective.

Some readers may wish that Platt had provided even more suggestions, and even more detailed advice. However, the advice that Platt gives is plenty detailed. At any rate, the greatest challenge for most of us is not that we don’t know how to pledge our time and money, or that we don’t know how to make disciples, but that we haven’t been really willing to do so. Let us pray that the Lord will change this, and that He will accomplish great things both for the church and for all people through us. It is worth mentioning that Platt has developed a website with numerous resources for studying scripture, evangelizing, etc. I have checked out a few of the resources, and they have been pretty good.

Before I close, I would like to register a few complaints about the book. First, Platt says very little about the teachings on social justice in the Torah, the Old Testament prophets, or the New Testament letters. Instead, he concentrates almost exclusively on the gospels; and, while there is certainly nothing wrong with this, I think that it would have been helpful to note that Jesus’s teachings on social justice did not come out of nowhere, so to speak, and that they are found throughout the Bible. Second, Platt argues that Christianity is not a “me religion”, and that the point of Christianity is not just that God saves sinners, though that is certainly an important part of Christianity. In particular, Platt argues that Christianity is also about God’s glory - that the point of Christianity is also that God’s glory should be acknowledged by all people throughout the world, and that this requires us to preach the gospel. I agree with Platt’s claim, and I applaud him for making it. But I fear that Platt has still ignored one of the central points of Christianity, namely, that God doesn’t just save sinners, but that He will rescue all creation from sin. I also fear that his concept of salvation, like that of many Christians today, is too individualistic, and not sufficiently communal – God doesn’t just save you and me, but He saves a people, His people, and He calls them to life as a community. These are minor complaints, but I thought that they deserved mention anyway.

One last comment. Platt is a Baptist, but he also seems to be Reformed in his theology. He rejects the notion that salvation depends on works, and he seems to believe that we are justified by faith alone through grace alone. I myself believe this, and I am fairly Reformed in my theology, but I find nothing theologically objectionable in the book. At any rate, I suspect that Christians who do not accept Reformed teachings on justification and sanctification would not be overly troubled by Platt’s theological views.