Megachurch Pastor: Watered Down Gospel to Blame for Why Giving God 'Blank Check' Is So Foreign

christianpost ^ | December 9, 2014 | Stephanie Samuel

[Gamecock]

Full Title: Megachurch Pastor David Platt: Watered Down Gospel to Blame for Why Giving God 'Blank Check' Is So Foreign

David Platt, The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., speaks on the opening night of 2014 SBC Pastors’ Conference in Baltimore, Md., on Sunday, June 8, 2014.

Southern Baptist International Mission Board President and megachurch Pastor David Platt said the reason why many Christians balk at the idea of allowing God to send them anywhere in the world for His purpose is because churches have watered down what it means to accept Jesus Christ as their savior.

The megachurch pastor preached in a Dec. 1 podcast entitled, "Our Obligation to the Unreached", that Christians should give God a "blank check" when it comes to missions, expressing a willingness to let go of everything and spread the Gospel even in the most violent and deadly places in the world. However he said most people sitting in the church pews on Sunday mornings believe this call is foolish and terrifying.

Referring to Paul's Romans 12 command to Christ followers to become "living sacrifices," Platt admonished "You know why blank check language – surrender to do whatever, go whatever – seems so foreign to so many of us today? Isn't because we've so diluted the gospel invitation?"

He said the decision to accept Christ's plan of salvation has been watered down to some version of "just make this decision and just move on with your life however you want in the future and that's all it means to be a Christian."

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He continued, "That's not true; it's just not true. Yes, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved… but that's just it; you're calling on the name of the Lord—the Lord who rules over you, the Lord to whom you belong, the Lord before whom you bow – and you say whatever you want me to do, I'll do it"

The Alabama pastor's Dec. 1 message is similar to criticisms he leveled against the "sinner's prayer" in 2012. In a three minute video shared across the evangelical community, Platt said, "I'm convinced many people in our churches are just simply missing the life of Christ and a lot of it has to do with what we've sold them as the Gospel." Platt charged that the sinner's prayer, a prayer which famously bids Jesus to "come into your heart," as nothing more than superstition and "evangelism built on sinking sand."

He later explained his comments were meant to express a desire for Christians to undergo an "authentic conversion and regenerate church membership."

In his podcast, Platt said the true image of becoming a Christian is that of a blank check. Platt described, "When you think about it, giving God a blank check is really the essence of what it means to be a Christian in the first place, right? What happens at the moment you or I come to faith in Christ? At that moment we turn aside from sin and from ourselves and we say I don't want to go my way anymore; I want to follow your way. That's a blank check, isn't it?"

He continued, "It's not like we come to Christ and say I want to follow some of your ways and some of my ways in the days to come. No, we say I'll follow your way; whatever it is – this is the essence of what it means to be a Christian – to say I'm trusting you now to save me from my sins and to lead me as my Lord. You're Lord, not me. I trust you to call the shots in my life."

Any Christian who has truly trusted God enough with his/her salvation can also trust God enough to give up their life plans to evangelize the 2 billion people around the world who do not have access to the Gospel.

He summed, "If you can trust God to save you from your sins, then you can trust God to lead your life. And if you can trust God to save you for all of eternity, then surely you trust God to satisfy you on this earth. What we really need to be afraid of is any conditions that we might put upon our obedience to this God. We give God a blank check because He sent us for others' salvation, for His glorification, for our satisfaction so it just makes sense to say send me whenever, however, wherever you want."

Platt's Radical Together podcast can be found on iTunes or archived on his Radical.net webpage.

[stevecmd]

The thought that such missionary work could literally cost you your head.... or worse... is probably a detriment too.

[Gamecock]

He said the decision to accept Christ's plan of salvation has been watered down to some version of "just make this decision and just move on with your life however you want in the future and that's all it means to be a Christian."

Not totally on board with everything he says, but I have to say he hits it out of the ballpark.

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[Gamecock]

Good thing no one told the disciples that!

[Marko413]

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?

[Alex Murphy]

Southern Baptist International Mission Board President and megachurch Pastor David Platt said the reason why many Christians balk at the idea of allowing God to send them anywhere in the world for His purpose is because churches have watered down what it means to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. The megachurch pastor preached in a Dec. 1 podcast entitled, "Our Obligation to the Unreached", that Christians should give God a "blank check" when it comes to missions, expressing a willingness to let go of everything and spread the Gospel even in the most violent and deadly places in the world. However he said most people sitting in the church pews on Sunday mornings believe this call is foolish and terrifying.

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.

[Vendome]

Ain’t nuttin stopping him from going on mission to Iraq and Libya.

[jimbug]

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”.

[Gamecock]

False teaching would make it hade to motivate folks sitting under some "pastors" preaching.

I mean if everything is fine, why go out and preach the word, right?</sarc>

[fungoking]

I've read Platt’s book Radical, he's the opposite of an Osteen. Platt contends that for many Christians, the pursuit of the American Dream has replaced the doctrine of the New Testament church. The reason many modern Christians don't embrace missions is that it endangers their comfort, it cost money and if you go it could be dangerous.

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.

[Gamecock]

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?

[jagusafr]

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.

[fungoking]

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?

---

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.

[fungoking]

Radical is one of the reasons my wife and I became foster parents.

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

[boatbums]

He later explained his comments were meant to express a desire for Christians to undergo an "authentic conversion and regenerate church membership." In his podcast, Platt said the true image of becoming a Christian is that of a blank check. Platt described, "When you think about it, giving God a blank check is really the essence of what it means to be a Christian in the first place, right? What happens at the moment you or I come to faith in Christ? At that moment we turn aside from sin and from ourselves and we say I don't want to go my way anymore; I want to follow your way. That's a blank check, isn't it?" He continued, "It's not like we come to Christ and say I want to follow some of your ways and some of my ways in the days to come. No, we say I'll follow your way; whatever it is – this is the essence of what it means to be a Christian – to say I'm trusting you now to save me from my sins and to lead me as my Lord. You're Lord, not me. I trust you to call the shots in my life."

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,

God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.

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.

[Gamecock]

Well, there’s that too!

[boatbums]

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.

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.

[AppyPappy]

“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.

[Mr Rogers]

I think Christians have traditionally considered the Great Commission to be of some urgency...

[Mr Rogers]

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?