The subject of materialism is
often on my heart having lived in the Philippines for a period, and having seen
poverty in other countries whilst serving on-board Logos Hope. Returning to
Western culture, a touch of distaste and unfortunately judgementalism, whilst
not necessarily helpful, is inevitable. But, in recent months, as I have been
encouraged to spend more and worry less, I have been asking the questions, are
all Westerners living in luxury and is that self-indulgent? What will God say
to us on Judgement Day?
The immediate reply of most
people confronted with this question is that in comparison with their
non-Christian neighbours and friends, they are pretty frugal. We cannot be
expected to compare a Western standard of living with the third world, right?
Additionally, they comment, it’s
more about our attitude to wealth because it’s the love of money that is a root of evil, not money itself. And that
God gives us things to enjoy and as a blessing.
Personally, I find that stuff overwhelms
and exhausts me, the less things I have the better. I would happily leave my
few things for a simple, traditional, missionary lifestyle when God leads, but
maybe that’s just me.
I picked up the book Radical by David Platt this week and
read it in a few days. It is the third book I have read by this author. Platt
pastors a mega-church in America and has sparked controversy with some of his
radical (biblical?) ideas. He is definitely sincere in his views and the
implementation of them, but is he sincerely wrong?
Platt found himself a mega-pastor
in his late twenties. He was living the American (or British) dream—successful,
wealthy, fulfilling life-long ambitions. But he was suddenly stopped in his
tracks when faced with the startling reality that the American dream may not be
God’s way. His soul searching led to the realisation that if he wanted to truly
follow Jesus, as a pastor, he would have to take his church with him—turn his
culture on its head and deal with the consequence. He faced up to the blind
spot in his life and ministry.
Platt believes Western Christians
are living in luxury. He proposes that God doesn’t make us rich—“if your family income is $10,000 a year,
you are wealthier than 84% of the world. So you can call yourself blessed and
get a bigger house, better car and more stuff.” He proposes, based on
Scripture, that God gives us more than we need, so we can use it to bless
others. He reminds us that God is not likely to one day admonish us, “I wish you would’ve kept more for yourself”
If nothing else, material wealth
and the stuff that we accumulate distracts us from pursuing God wholeheartedly.
There are a lot of ways to waste time with these things which can cause us to
lose focus on our mission—to see lost souls come to Jesus. Platt reminds us of
the billions of “unreached” still out there and points out that a huge
percentage of missionaries are serving in “reached” areas. He quotes older
missionaries like John Paton, C.T. Studd and Jim Elliot who literally gave up
everything when they went to the field. “He
is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” (Elliot)
There is a great need for
Christian church leaders that are willing to confront cultural trends with
biblical truth. Platt’s “Radical Experiment” challenges readers to initially dedicate
one year to God—pray for the world, study the Bible (cover to cover,) sacrifice
money for a specific purpose, spend time in another context (missions) and commit
their life to a multiplying community (local church family.) But the issue that
has caused the controversy is that Platt suggests that all Christians should be
doing these things anyway because they are biblical. Is he right?
Platt’s critics cry legalism and
salvation by works. The out-workings of some of his suggestions seem to have
led in some cases to spiritual burnout and a mass exodus from his church. But
couldn’t that just be the enemy causing confusion and chaos in an otherwise God
ordained situation? In a mega-church congregation there are bound to be some
that do things with the wrong motivation or who miss the heart of the call to
action. Is that the fault of the pastor?
Platt makes it clear in this book
that salvation is by faith alone and that works should be a natural outflow. He
highlights the centrality of the Gospel message when involved in social action
or when deciding which projects to support.
His church community seem to have
literally taken responsibility for all of the “people- needs” in the area and further
afield. Surely that is what a local church should
be doing—teaching believers within and proclaiming Christ on the streets,
combining help with hope in the community.
God does place different calls on
the lives of individuals and gifts them specifically. But surely that is the
point of the church family—to accomplish his work together as a body. Is that
really so radical?
I was personally encouraged and
challenged by this book and the life and testimony of the author.
