Leftover Christians

"How much can we spare?" or "What will it take?" Which of those questions best defines how we look at the kingdom of Christ. I ran across those questions in David Platt's new book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream (Multnomah Books, 4/17/2010).

Those questions were actually posed to Platt in a letter he received from a missionary friend who was serving in a closed country where millions have yet to even hear the name of Jesus. In the letter, the missionary, named Jason, says:

"...there will continue to be millions and millions of people who do not hear as long as we continue to use spare time and spare money to reach them. Those are two radically different questions. 'What can we spare?' and 'What will it take?'"1

In the book, David Platt goes on to ask what would happen if we stopped thinking in terms of what we could spare, and started looking at the Great Commission and the needs of the world in terms of what it would take.

To be honest, most of the people in our churches are "leftover" Christians, and by that, I do not mean that they are the remnant. What I mean is that they give the Lord Jesus whatever is leftover in their life after they have spent the rest on themselves and their desires.

This is certainly true of our money. The Bible calls for at least a tenth of our income to be given back to the Lord through the local church, but satistics indicate that most of our people give somewhere around 2% of their income. That is, after they have met the minimum payments on their credit cards, paid the cable bill, went to the movies, and ate out 3 nights a week.

The leftover mentality also applies to our time. Increasingly, people are unwilling to even give Sunday to the Lord in worship, much less any other time to Him for service. We are just too busy, we contend, with little-league, yard work, American Idol, and other pressing matters filling our schedules. Someone else with a less active life will have to see to it that the Kingdom is served.

If we honestly expect to stand before Jesus with any hope of hearing a "Well done," we are going to have stop looking at our lives and labors for Him in terms of what we can spare. May God give us a generation of hot-hearted, gospel-driven, self-sacrificing Christians who will look at the multitudes perishing without Christ and ask the question, "What will it take?"

1 Platt, David, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, (Multnomah Books ebooks, 2010), kindle edition

The St. Patrick I Never Knew

Following a recommendation from a blog by Dr. Russell Moore , I recently finished the biography, St. Patrick of Ireland, by Philip Freeman. I must confess that the extent of my knowledge of Patrick was basically limited to the holiday named after him, which today has absolutely nothing to do with the man himself. Several years ago I had the privilege of visiting Northern Ireland, but I don't recall even hearing Patrick's name, though we visited a number of historic sites.

Freeman's biography draws from the limited number of legitimate sources available on Patrick's life, which are primarily a couple of letters he wrote. There is not a lot of information given in these documents, but there is enough to construct a pretty decent picture of the man behind the holiday in March.

A couple of things about Patrick both surprised and inspired me. For one, I was surprised to learn that Patrick was not originally from Ireland. He was born in England. He spent the majority of his life in Ireland, but was born a Roman citizen in what became Britain. At a young age, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates, and carried into slavery in Ireland. He eventually escaped and returned home to England, only to feel the call of God to return as a missionary to the very people who had enslaved him.

I was inspired as I recognized the genuine faith that emanates from Patrick's letters. The drunken holiday that bears his name completely misrepresents the godly man for whom it is named. Patrick was a humble, devoted, and powerful servant of Christ.

Patrick writes in his Confession letter:

"[God] cared for me before I ever knew who he was...and loved me even as a father does his own child. Because of this I cannot - I will not - be silent. I will tell of the great blessings God has granted to me and the grace he has shown to me in this land of slavery."

Later in the same letter he writes:

"...before God humbled me I was like a stone stuck deep in a mud puddle. But then God came along and with his power and compassion reached down and pulled me out, raised me up, and placed me on top of a wall. Because of this I must proclaim my good news..."

Explaining his call to Ireland, He writes:

"The love of Christ carried me here to be a help to these people for the rest of my life, if I may be worthy, and to work for them with humility and in sincerity."

Though patrick ministered some 1,600 years ago, I recognize in his writings the same love for Christ and His Kingdom that flows in the hearts of his servants today. If you are interested in learning more about St. Patrick, pick up Freeman's biography. It will be a blessing to you, and you will think about it every time you eat your Lucky Charms.

(Freeman, Philip,St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2004)