My favourite book of 2010 was Radical: Taking back your faith from the American Dream by David Platt from Brook Hills. I tweeted about it during 2010 (“Just finished @RADICALbook by @PlattDavid. Maybe best book on discipleship since Bonhoeffer’s ‘Discipleship’? Check it: http://bit.ly/cX9xNC“), but don’t think I’ve blogged on it. At it’s heart, it’s a challenge to take Jesus seriously! I’ll return to it again in 2011, look out for some blog posts. In the meantime, here’s a solid quote that Of First Importance blogged today:
“This is the picture of Jesus in the gospel. He is something — someone — worth losing everything for. And if we walk away from the Jesus of the gospel, we walk away from eternal riches. The cost of nondiscipleship is profoundly greater for us than the cost of discipleship. For when we abandon the trinkets of this world and respond to the radical invitation of Jesus, we discover the infinite treasure of knowing and experiencing him.”
Thanks for the post, Dave. I attended David Platt’s church when I first arrived in Alabama. I left only because I wanted to attend a smaller church – Brook Hills is a mega church (definitely the best megachurch I’ve ever been to). David is a godly man and a great teacher. I have many friends that go to Brook Hills.
I haven’t read Radical yet. Certainly American Christianity looks way too much like the American dream. My question is, do you think there is a danger embracing Radical will tend to produce pride in the hearts of those who do i.e. where they see Christians in two-tiers? Thoughts?
good to hear of positive experiences at a megachurch!! haha
i reckon pride is always crouching at the door! so it’s always a danger.
i don’t think you’d get an impression of two-tiered Christianity from reading radical. but it is compelling, and you feel the weight of what it actually means to pick up your cross and follow Jesus!
i’ve recently read piper (his book “think”), josh harris (his book “dug down deep”) and 2 sermons from francis chan – where they all deal with the issue of pride. i think all 3 go to 1 cor 8:1-3 and how knowledge that doesn’t lead to love is dumb.
what are your thoughts?