Posted on 12/09/2014 11:02:39 AM PST by Gamecock
The thought that such missionary work could literally cost you your head.... or worse... is probably a detriment too.
Not totally on board with everything he says, but I have to say he hits it out of the ballpark.
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Good thing no one told the disciples that!
Step 1 in implementing massive change in your organization: Create a Sense of Urgency (whether truth or fabricated).
I take it the Southern Baptists are hurting in their missions giving?
IMO the problem comes with watering down Christ's lordship. He's more than our Savior - we need to make Him our King in all our affairs, not just missions.
Ain’t nuttin stopping him from going on mission to Iraq and Libya.
I have heard this crap, and personally experienced it before in so-called fundamental, independent, militant Babtist churches. The other shoe, later dropped, is “If you are REALLY saved, you’ll do this, etc. and you won’t do that”.
I mean if everything is fine, why go out and preach the word, right?</sarc>
Osteen is such a charlatan that you don't need any spiritual discernment to see how thin and phony his gospel is. I think what Platt is saying is that many people in mainstream churches are believing a lesser form of the same $ gospel; we are willing to give God our eternal life while we pursue the bigger house, nicer car, etc. He points out the spiritual disparity between the picture you posted and the way many Christians live their lives against the way Jesus and the disciples lived and the Biblical call to service.
I think Platt is addressing churches like Lakewood. If everything is wonderful and God had a perfect plan for your life, why go and evangelize?
His book, “Radical”, changed the way I look at missions. He specifically says that churches that just throw money at missions “so our kids don’t have to go over there” are breaking the heart of Christ. And he’s PUT his safety where his mouth is with lots of mission activity. He also gives fairly low marks to “mission tourism”, where people go to, say, Guatemala, for 2 weeks, spending one week building stuff and the second week whitewater rafting or whatever.
I find him to be legit, and I’m not a Baptist.
I agree with you. I also think he is talking about a lot of Christians who reject Osteen but have bought into enough of what he says that they are too afraid to leave their comforts to be open to serving God without strings attached.
James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.-Holman
This really IS the gist of what it means to be a Christian. While our works and efforts for the cause of Christ do not contribute in any way to our salvation - which is a gift of God by His grace that we accept through faith - they do demonstrate genuine faith. What is clear, though, is that this kind of faith - to be willing to totally trust the Lord for every aspect of our lives - is grown, it is a mature faith that has been tested, refined. When we get to the point where we can honestly say we believe,
with all our hearts, we will experience the full joy of the Lord and be where He want us to be in His perfect will for our lives.
Well, there’s that too!
I agree, in that, if Jesus IS truly God in the flesh, if He truly sacrificially died on the cruel cross to save us, if He truly is Lord over all, then believing on Him and receiving His gift of eternal life through faith, we can't help but go all the way and surrender everything to His will. BUT...this full understanding comes over time, it is learned and is a part of a mature faith. Just as God tests our faith to strengthen and refine it, so we learn that God IS trustWORTHY.
There is NO chance at all that I will EVER reject my faith in Christ - I've seen too much, experienced too much, to ever go back to entertaining doubts. As new believers sometimes do - and it is NOT a shameful thing to acknowledge - we have to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is when we see over and over how God provides, how He is there even in our darkest hours, how he never will leave us or forsake us, that we reach maturity in the faith. This is the kind of faith that moves mountains, that is willing to do whatever the Master commands, because God is faithful and works ALL things for our good and we KNOW it.
“There is NO chance at all that I will EVER reject my faith in Christ”
Matthew 26
31 Then Jesus told them, This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.
33 Peter replied, Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.
34 Truly I tell you, Jesus answered, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.
35 But Peter declared, Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And all the other disciples said the same.
I think Christians have traditionally considered the Great Commission to be of some urgency...
I converted at 13. I am not a pacifist now, but I assumed pacifism was God’s will when I first converted. The day I was beaten up without striking back was the day I believe I became a Christian - when I was willing to obey what I thought God wanted me to do, even if it literally hurt.
Of course, I later spent 25 years in the military. The point wasn’t that God requires no fighting back, but that I believed he required it of me at that time, and obeyed.
That is part of why I believe baptism should follow conversion quickly. It is an act of obedience to God. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to the modern mind, but it IS worth doing because God commands it. If someone holds back from being baptized, just how much have they surrendered to God?
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