“Plainly put, a relationship with Jesus requires total, superior, and exclusive devotion.”

Here, one of Platt’s main themes finds an early articulation: the idea of Christian Discipleship as Costly Obedience. The call of the Christian life is an all-consuming one, with devotion to Jesus standing as the first consideration in any choice or circumstance. Platt’s literary style is also evident here—using short, clear sentences to make his central points, while also including rhetorical flourishes (like the string of adjectives describing devotion).

“The cost of believers not taking Jesus seriously is vast for those who don’t know Christ and devastating for those who are starving and suffering around the world.”

The theme of discipleship as costly obedience is touched on again here, but in this quote, Platt has turned the tables, pointing out the even higher costs of not obeying and following the way of Christ. Those costs are borne primarily by others, who would have been the recipients of the blessings and labors which Christians otherwise would have enacted and given out.

“Yet in the American Dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel to accommodate our assumptions and our desires. As a result, we desperately need to explore how much of our understanding is American and how much is biblical.”

Here, the theme of critiquing the American Dream takes on its central position in Platt’s argument, which it will hold throughout the rest of the book. Platt points to the inherent self-centeredness of the American Dream as the cause for its disjunction with traditional Christian spirituality. He is not accusing the American Dream of being anti-Christian in a strong sense, but of fostering a problematic sensibility which will ultimately make it more difficult for the Christian to follow a biblically faithful lifestyle.

“This is the gospel. The just and loving Creator of the universe has looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent his Son, God in the flesh, to bear his wrath against sin on the cross and to show his power over sin in the Resurrection so that all who trust in him will be reconciled to God forever.

This quote shows some of Platt’s variation in sentence structure, which ranges from short and punchy (as in the first sentence) to long sequences of linked clauses (as in the second). As a preacher, Platt’s rhetorical style bleeds over into his prose writing. In this case, the variation serves to draw attention both to the importance of the ideas being presented as well as to the richness and depth of the meaning they convey.

“While the goal of the American Dream is to make much of us, the goal of the gospel is to make much of God.”

Here Platt again presents the Christian’s choices as a strict dichotomy, with the American Dream on one side and the gospel on the other. This continues Platt’s Critique of the American Dream, highlighting how its self-centered nature runs counter to the way the Bible portrays the Christian life as a God-centered enterprise.

“The reality is that the church I lead can accomplish more during the next month in the power of God’s Spirit than we can in the next hundred years apart from his provision.”

One of Platt’s central points is that although the Christian life is a call to costly obedience, the power of God is there to meet the Christian who truly puts their trust in Jesus. God’s power, available through faithfully following God’s plan, will accomplish more than putting one’s designs into play, regardless of how well-intentioned they may be. The God-centered (rather than self-centered) aspect of the Christian life is in view here again.

“The power of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us, and as a result we have no need to muster up our own might. Our great need is to fall before an almighty Father day and night and to plead for him to show his radical power in and through us, enabling us to accomplish for his glory what we could never imagine in our own strength.”

In this quote, Platt is reassuring readers who might feel that the high callings and obligations of the Christian life are beyond them. This is a key rhetorical strategy in the preacher’s toolbox: to inspire and hearten hearers who might otherwise be inclined to feel that a particular call to action is more than they are capable of. By drawing their attention to God’s power, available on their behalf if they are working for God’s plan, Platt’s readers will be encouraged to consider even the most difficult practical suggestions that Platt may have for them.

“God gave his people his image for a reason—so that they might multiply his image throughout the world. He created human beings, not only to enjoy his grace in a relationship with him, but also to extend his glory to the ends of the earth.”

Platt is using the creation narrative in the biblical book of Genesis to make the point that a missional, globally-oriented dimension of the Christian faith has been present since the very beginning. Most Bible scholars would point out that his interpretation here is a little reductive—the idea of the “image of God” in the creation narrative is a multifaceted concept which likely contains more dimensions than just being a part of God’s plan for the global reach of his glory. At the same time, though, it is important to note that Platt is not putting forward this interpretation in the context of an exhaustive biblical exposition, but in a pointed moral exhortation, in which drawing attention to a single main idea is crucial.

“This is the final, ultimate, all-consuming, glorious, guaranteed, overwhelmingly global purpose of God in Scripture. It is the great why of God. God blesses his people with extravagant grace so they might extend his extravagant glory to all peoples on the earth.”

This quote provides a clear statement of Platt’s biblical exposition in Chapter 4, making the case that God’s purpose, as revealed throughout Scripture, is for all people groups on earth to become recipients of the blessings of his gospel and beholders and his glory. It also shows Platt’s literary style—both forcefully clear and indulging in rhetorical flourishes, like the string of descriptors in the first sentence.

“Every person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell. We owe Christ to the world—to the least person and to the greatest person, to the richest person and to the poorest person, to the best person to the worst person. We are in debt to the nations.”

Here Platt continues his thread of reminders that Christians are called to God-centered and other-centered lives, prioritizing the needs of those who have never heard the gospel above their own desires. Platt’s writing style also comes through in this quote, showing once again his roots as a preacher, especially visible in his use of parallel repetitions in the second sentence.

“One of the unintended consequences of contemporary church strategies that revolve around performances, places, programs, and professionals is that somewhere along the way people get left out of the picture. But according to Jesus, people are God’s method for winning the world to himself.”

Platt’s point here is that God could have ordained a different means for reaching the world if he had wanted to, but instead he chose to spread his gospel through the humble and fallible means of individual disciples. For Platt, this means that Christians’ communal life in churches cannot focus on programs and services more than it does on simply equipping and sending out individual believers to serve as God’s witnesses.

“Disciple making involves identifying with a community of believers who show love to one another and share life with one another as we live together for the glory of God.”

Theologians often critique the American church for its individualistic focus—speaking of the Christian life as if it is primarily a matter of “me and God” rather than a communal reality experienced through the church. While Platt does not make this point central to his own critique of American Christianity, he does take pains to ensure that readers of his book are not left with the impression that being a disciple of Jesus is a solo affair.

“Making disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching people the Word of Christ and then enabling them to do the same thing in other people’s lives—this is the plan God has for each of us to impact nations for the glory of Christ.”

This quote is Platt’s summary of Jesus’s final words to his disciples, delivered after his resurrection and before his ascension, a biblical passage often referred to as the “Great Commission.” Platt takes this passage as the fundamental statement of God’s mission for all Christians, putting special focus on the three main actions which Jesus lists in the Great Commission: going to all nations, baptizing people, and teaching them to obey Jesus’s words.

“If there is no sign of caring for the poor in our lives, then there is reason to at least question whether Christ is in our hearts.”

In evangelical Protestant Christianity, of which Platt is a part, there is always a theological concern to articulate the principle that Christians are saved by faith in Jesus, and not by any good works they might perform. As such, whenever a pastor or theologian is explaining why a certain good work is a necessary element of the Christian life, they usually take care to make sure that their audience understands that this good work is not what saves you, but it is nonetheless an expected part of Christian practice. In this case, Platt addresses this theological concern by saying that while caring for impoverished people does not save you, it is such a necessary element of Christian practice that if one doesn’t show evidence of it, one might not be saved in the first place.

“Are you and I looking to Jesus for advice that seems fiscally responsible according to the standards of the world around us? Or are we looking to Jesus for total leadership in our lives, even if that means going against everything our affluent culture […] might tell us to do?”

Here, Platt returns to his tactic of drawing dichotomous distinctions, casting the choice in terms of two conflicting options, one of which he positions as clearly correct. Platt takes the materialistic behaviors of American Christians and essentially asks his readers to imagine those behaviors as constituting obedience to Jesus’s teachings, making the assumption that Christian readers will know that is not what Jesus taught, and so the correct answer must be the second one: Look to Jesus for total leadership, even when it cuts against the grain of the American Dream.

“Why not begin operating under the idea that God has given us excess, not so we could have more, but so we could give more?”

Platt articulates a common biblical theme in this quote, making the case that God sometimes gives a surplus not just for individual benefit, but so that his followers can become conduits of his blessing to others. This teaching was prominent throughout much of the history of Christianity, with many of the leaders of the early church putting the matter in even stronger terms, calling the wealth of the rich the intended property of the poor.

“The way we use our money is a barometer of our present spiritual condition.”

Platt will occasionally use short, pointed sentences like this to make his most important observations. The analogy here—a barometer—indicates that the conditions and quality of people’s spiritual life can be discerned from their patterns of money management. Someone who hoards all their surplus for themselves is not, in Platt’s view, living a faithful Christian life, while someone who practices radical generosity demonstrates that they are close to the values of God’s own heart.

“The will of God is for you and me to give our lives urgently and recklessly to making the gospel and the glory of God known among all peoples, particularly those who have never even heard of Jesus.”

In this passage, Platt is responding to the common Christian query of how to find God’s will for one’s life. In evangelical Christianity, there is a presumption that God has an individual plan for each believer, and one must discern and faithfully follow that plan if one is to live a good and obedient Christian life. Platt turns that concern on its head, essentially stating that God has already made the broad contours of his will known in the pages of Scripture, and that if one’s life hews to the shape of that calling—to God’s missional plan for reaching all nations with his gospel—then one is living in the center of God’s will.

“Are we willing to fundamentally alter our understanding of Christianity from a luxury-liner approach that seeks more comforts in the world to a troop-carrier approach that forsakes comforts in the world to accomplish an eternally significant task and achieve an eternally satisfying reward?”

This quote is the question that follows Platt’s anecdote about the SS United States, a ship designed to be a troop carrier but later converted into a luxury liner. Platt regards much of American Christianity—and especially the version of it exemplified by his context of suburban megachurches—as favoring the luxury-liner approach, whereas he sees the Bible as calling the church to be a troop ship, engaged on a clear and compelling mission.

“Radical obedience to Christ is not easy; it is dangerous. […] It’s not comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all these things. But in the end, such risk finds its reward in Christ. And he is more than enough for us.”

In this passage, Platt reiterates his theme of discipleship as costly obedience to imply a critique of a particular version of American Christianity, apparent in his choice of terms. One small segment of American Christians holds to a version of Christian teaching called the “prosperity gospel” or “health and wealth” theology. This teaching says that God promises comfort, prosperity, and even luxury to his followers if only they have enough faith. Most evangelicals view this as an incorrect interpretation of Scripture and a heterodox version of theology, and Platt’s act of pointing the finger at the expectations of health, wealth, and prosperity seems to indicate that he shares that negative assessment.

“Real success is found in radical sacrifice. Ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of God.”

Here Platt once again comes back to his theme of critiquing the American Dream, which interprets success in terms of advancing in one’s personal goals for wealth, career, and social status. Platt disagrees, casting success for the Christian in sacrificial terms: a “successful” Christian will have a life that looks more like Jesus on the cross than it does a megachurch pastor in a mansion. The American Dream is centered on oneself, but Christian discipleship is centered on God.

“When Jesus looked at the harassed and helpless multitudes, apparently his concern was not that the lost would not come to the Father. Instead his concern was that his followers would not go to the lost.”

Platt points out that in the biblical stories about Jesus, there is no question in Jesus’s mind as to whether the lost will come to the Father when the gospel is presented to them—he knows that they will. Jesus’s concern, rather—the point at which he seems to think the endeavor could fail—is that Christians might not be obedient to the call to go and spread the good news. It is beholden on Christians, then, to make sure that they are not the weak link in the chain of God’s plan.

“The global purpose of Christ was never intended to be accomplished by individuals. We are a global people whose family spans the nations.”

Here Platt reminds his readers of two key points. First, that the Christian life is a communal endeavor, not a solo mission, so it is necessary to be actively engaged in a church (or, in his term of choice, a missional community). Second, and following from that, readers need not worry that they alone don’t have what it takes to complete the mission God lays on his disciples, because it is not a mission given to them alone—it is given to the whole church, and everyone’s strengths work together to accomplish the intended end.