In light of our recent discussion this past Sunday regarding materialism and poverty in today’s culture, I wanted to share with all of you some thoughts from David Platt, a pastor of a large church in Birmingham, Alabama. His book is called Radical and I know several in SixTen that have been reading it. Here is what he has to say…

We all have blind spots- areas in our lives that need to be uncovered so we can see correctly and adjust our lives accordingly. But they are hard to identify. Others can often see them in us, and we rely on friends to point them out. But the reality is, even then we have a hard time recognizing them. We don’t want to admit they exist… often until it’s too late. We discover them in hindsight, but we struggle to see them in the present.

I can think of at least one glaring blind spot in American Christian History. Slavery. How could Christians who supposedly believed the gospel so easily rationalize the enslavement of other human beings? Churchgoers with good intentions worshiping God together every Sunday and reading the Bible religiously all week long, all the while using God’s Word to justify treating men, women, and children as property to be used or abused.

This frightens me. Good intentions, regular worship, and even study of the Bible do not prevent blindness in us. Part of our sinful nature instinctively chooses to see what we want to see and to ignore what we want to ignore. I can live my Christian life and even lead the church while unknowingly overlooking evil.

Not long ago God began uncovering a blind spot in my life. An area of disobedience. A reality in God’s Word that I had pretended did not exist. Today more than a billion people in the world live and die in desperate poverty. They attempt to survive on less than a dollar per day. Close to two billion live on less than two dollars per day. That’s nearly half the world struggling today to find food, water, and shelter with the same amount of money I spend on french fries for lunch.

More than twenty-six thousand children today will breathe their last breath due to starvation or a preventable disease. To put it in perspective for me, that’s twenty-six thousand Joshuas and Calebs (my two sons). To put it in perspective for the church I pastor, if this were happening among the children in my community, then every child eighteen years or younger in our county would be dead within the next two days.

Suddenly I began to realize that if I have been commanded to make disciples of all nations, and if poverty is rampant in the world to which God has called me, then I cannot ignore these realities. Anyone wanting to proclaim the glory of Christ to the ends of the earth must consider not only how to declare the gospel verbally but also how to demonstrate the gospel visibly in a world where so many are urgently hungry. Literally millions are currently dying in obscurity, and I have enjoyed my affluence while pretending they don’t exist. Jesus pronounces woes upon the wealthy who trust in their riches, and James tells those who hoard their money and live in self indulgence to “weep and wail because of the misery that is coming” upon them.

Is materialism a blind spot in American Christianity today? More specifically, is materialism a blind spot in your Christianity today? Surely this is something we must uncover, for if our lives do not reflect radical compassion for the poor, there is reason to question just how effective we will be in declaring the glory of Christ to the ends of the earth.

Radical by David Platt: http://www.radicalthebook.com/

Justin Taylor from the Gospel Coalition has re-posted a short excerpt from an interview between Ligonier Ministries and David Wells.  David Wells is a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In this interview with David Wells he recommends what looks to be a quite phenomenal book.  The book is titled: Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way and is by J.I. Packer and Gary Parrett.  On the back of the book it reads:

Historically, the church’s ministry of grounding new believers in the essentials of the faith has been known as catechesis–systematic instruction in faith foundations, including what we believe, how we pray and worship, and how we conduct our lives. For most evangelicals today, however, this very idea is an alien concept. Packer and Parrett, concerned for the state of the church, seek to inspire a much needed evangelical course correction. This new book makes the case for a recovery of significant catechesis as a nonnegotiable practice, urging evangelical churches to undertake this biblical ministry for the sake of their spiritual health and vitality.

This book sounds like a must-read for any believer and I will definitely be reading this in the near future.  If you have read this book or have an interest in reading this book, please let me know and we could possibly do something of a book study.

We were recently reminded in class of the importance of the book Pilgrim’s Progress – so we thought there might be a few out there who would like to begin reading this Christian classic together! Please see Kim Winters (in class) to get your copy of the book for only $3.00, or reserve your copy at the church (or public) library today. We will start reading on Valentines Day (February 14) and we’ll finish by Spring! A great way to finish out the winter months together. : ) If enough people plan to read, we will have a book discussion one we’re done. Join us!