America is the dominant culture in the world today, so this book by David Platt is very relevant as he critiques the state of the American church.

He states: “In this book I want to show you that, with the best intentions, we have actually turned away from Jesus. We have in many areas blindly and unknowingly embraced the values and ideas that are common in our culture and that are antithetical to the gospel he taught. Here we stand amid an American dream dominated by self-advancement, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency, by individualism, materialism, and universalism.

Yet I want to show you our desperate need to revisit the words of Jesus, to listen to them, to believe them, and to obey them. We need to return with urgency to a biblical gospel, because the cost of not doing so is great for our lives, our families, our churches, and the world around us.”

Many would we say that the church in New Zealand is much the same. Platt attributes much of this to our vision of who Jesus is, “A nice middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid extremes, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings comfort and prosperity as we live our Christian spin on the American dream.”

To remedy this he proposes that we begin living intentionally and pray for the entire world; read through the entire Word; sacrifice our money for a specific purpose; spend time in another context; and commit our lives to a multiplying community.

– David McLeod