The Radical Experiment Part 5

Being committed to a community of faith is far more important than many of us realize. It's more than a place we go to as a part of our weekly routine or to go catch up with our church friends. Committing to a community of faith will significantly impact your entire life.


The final part of a five part series based on the book Radical by David Platt.

THE RADICAL EXPERIMENT 
A one year challenge to radical obedience

The five components 
1.  pray for the entire world
2.  read through the entire Word
3.  sacrifice your money for a specific purpose
4.  spend your time in another context
5.  commit your life to a multiplying community

Commit Your Life to a Multiplying Community

Jesus’ command to make disciples is an invitation to give our lives for the sake of others. God has created us for community with one another, and the community we were created for is called the church. As part of a vibrant community of faith, you will have support and encouragement to live out your intention to be radically abandoned to Jesus.

It is the New Testament pattern for us to be a part of a local body of Christ, a gathering of brothers and sisters in a particular location where our Christianity comes to life in commitment to one another. By the design of God, the local church affects every facet of our Christian lives.

We pray for the entire world, but we do not pray alone. Our praying is integrally connected to the wider community of faith of which we are a part. We read through the entire word, but we need one another to understand it, to learn it, to apply it. We sacrifice our money for a specific purpose, and we spend our time in another context, but we are not lone rangers trying to accomplish the purpose of God. Our giving and our going must be tied to the multiplication of the gospel through the church.

If we are going to live in radical obedience to Christ, we will need the church to do it. We will need to show one another how to give liberally, go urgently and live dangerously. When we sacrifice our resources for the poor and then face unexpected and unforeseen needs in our own lives, we will need brothers and sisters to help us stand. In the process we will learn how to depend on one another according to God’s design. The global purpose of Christ was never intended to be accomplished by individuals.

If you’re not already, commit yourself to a people who need you and whom you need. Then, look for the best avenue within that community of faith to be about making disciples. Jesus placed a fundamental priority on disciple-making relationships, and such relationships cannot play a merely supplemental part in our Christian lives.

So who are the band of disciples that you are going to join with for the next year in this Radical Experiment? Alongside whom will you go into the community and into other contexts? With whom will you share the life of Christ as you show them what it means to follow after him? To whom will you teach the Word as God teaches you over the next year? How are you going to intentionally make disciples?

So these are the five parts that make up the Radical Experiment.

1.pray for the entire world

2.read through the entire Word

3.sacrifice your money for a specific purpose

4.spend your time in another context

5.commit your life to a multiplying community

Are you willing to take a year and test the claims contained in the gospel? Are you willing to see for yourself if radical obedience to the commands of Christ is more meaningful, more fulfilling, and more gratifying than the American Dream?

I guarantee that if you complete this experiment, you will possess an insatiable desire to spend the rest of your life in radical abandonment to Christ for his glory in all the world.

Used from the book Radical by Davis Platt

I pray that you will join me this year in radical obedience as I take on this challenge. 
I would urge you to purchase the book Radical by David Platt and read it in its entirety. The Radical Experiment is just a small portion of the wisdom that is actually contained in this book. Radical will help you grow deeper in your Christian journey and your relationship with Jesus Christ.