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Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live.
What did Jesus really mean when he said, “Follow Me�?
In this new book, David Platt, author of the New York Times bestselling book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, contends that multitudes of people around the world culturally think they are Christians yet biblically are not followers of Christ.
Scores of men, women, and children have been told that becoming a follower of Jesus simply involves believing certain truths or saying certain words. As a result, churches today are filled with people who believe they are Christians . . . but aren’t. We want to be disciples as long as doing so does not intrude on our lifestyles, our preferences, our comforts, and even our religion.
Revealing a biblical picture of what it means to truly be a Christian, Follow Me explores the gravity of what we must forsake in this world, as well as the indescribable joy and deep satisfaction to be found when we live for Christ.
The call to follow Jesus is not simply an invitation to pray a prayer; it’s a summons to lose your life—and to find new life in him. This book will show you what such life actually looks like.
In this new book, David Platt, author of the New York Times bestselling book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, contends that multitudes of people around the world culturally think they are Christians yet biblically are not followers of Christ.
Scores of men, women, and children have been told that becoming a follower of Jesus simply involves believing certain truths or saying certain words. As a result, churches today are filled with people who believe they are Christians . . . but aren’t. We want to be disciples as long as doing so does not intrude on our lifestyles, our preferences, our comforts, and even our religion.
Revealing a biblical picture of what it means to truly be a Christian, Follow Me explores the gravity of what we must forsake in this world, as well as the indescribable joy and deep satisfaction to be found when we live for Christ.
The call to follow Jesus is not simply an invitation to pray a prayer; it’s a summons to lose your life—and to find new life in him. This book will show you what such life actually looks like.
245 pages, Paperback
First published February 5, 2013
646 people are currently reading
7,216 people want to read
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May 16, 2013
Initial Questions:
What is it about David Platt's writing that allows him to turn, the "Pick up your cross and follow me," of Jesus' teachings into a national best seller? (I'm suspicious�) Or, to play the cynic, does he lure people in with an intriguing, difficult message and then deflate the call to follow, or completely toss the message aside?
Kudos to David Platt for sparking a healthy critique of the church; moderate examination is always a sign of health. One thing Follow Me strongly accomplished was encouraging the question, "Is my experience of Christianity the full picture of what Jesus brings?"
Follow Me amplifies this healthy critique from Platt's earlier nationally resonant book, Radical. In Follow Me, Platt writes to reveal the who and how of "radical" Christian living.
In my reading, I discovered three healthy things and four unhealthy things from Follow Me.
Follow Me brings the question: "Isn't there supposed to be more than reading my Bible, going to church, and talking to people about Jesus? Jesus seems to ask more�"
Platt spells out the reality and origin of God causing new life to take root within us (p. 18); he illustrates that people who come face to face with Jesus do experience change and their lives are called into something different from their surroundings. This is the sanctifying work of grace.
Follow Me spells out the necessity of repentance and grace in our world (p.20), even though I think he missed the mark that God isn't out to do something impressive or worthy of glory, but rather that it's simply God's nature to dive head-first into the brokenness (theology of Glory vs theology of the cross).
Side Note:
On the point of grace, when writing about the end-goal of grace, I believe Platt misses that grace isn't about getting us to heaven, but about God bringing his justice into our world to make all things new, including you and me.
"If you and I know and believe that Jesus came to save us from hell for heaven, then we have no choice but to spend our lives on earth making that salvation known." (p.87)
[There's no doubt that all who rely by grace through faith on the person of Jesus will forever and for always be in the loving presence of God; but there's also no biblical doubt that the goal isn't to "get out" of earth but rather enflesh God's work of justice and mercy as we work and pray, "Your kingdom come�"]
Here are the elements of Follow Me that I felt missed the mark:
For a book about following Jesus, there was very little Jesus of the Gospels; Platt provided little Gospel narrative clarity on who you were going to follow, and what it looks like from a Gospels-perspective to follow. Readers were inundated with the necessity substitutionary atonement theory and the old evangelical adage: "Because Jesus did that, you should just follow, just follow."
Follow Me had no connection of Jesus or discipleship to the present reign of God (which Mark's Gospel explicitly states is "the Gospel", Mark 1:15). As I wrote above, Platt's starting point is a handful of preconceived doctrines (albeit biblical) rather than a biblical, Gospel narrative. He uses doctrinal bullet points rather than the story of Jesus to try to speak about discipleship.
There was very little direction for ordinary discipleship; Platt's litter of extraordinary missionary stories was deflating and felt grandiose (almost boastful). Plus, such adventures are markedly different than incarnational moving in with a people to share in the Gospel as a way of life, rather than the Gospel as a package to deliver.
Platt concludes Follow Me by inviting the reader into a very personal, though personally shared with others who are also on their personal faith journey, "following" program of: reading your Bible more, going to church more, and evangelizing more, with an ending caveat to encourage others to be disciples (of which Platt focuses little attention in his book).
Platt's conclusion, by my deduction, is that when people ask the above, "Isn't there more�" he says, "No, not really."
But can you blame him? He's excelled at drawing people into a large megachurch in Alabama; what Platt does well is getting people to do the normal church thing. Why would he want to critique that legacy and impressive success (by some standards) and say, "I think we've missed something�" There's a lot of risk for him in that.
My final thoughts:
Platt does provide the gift of a great question in Follow Me as he invites people to entertain the thought that discipleship is missing in a lot of the church today. But, I don't feel Platt's answers take us in the best direction; while his examples are helpful and sentimental at times, I don't think we can provide a healthy path of Christian discipleship if our noses aren't buried in the Gospel stories and from that experience asking with people in our community, "How do we live this life that Jesus came to bring?" …all this of course starts with the gracious embrace of God, which is what Platt tried hard to underscore.
My feel is that this book only makes sense for a comfortable audience who knows little of brokenness on the systemic level and who is numb to identity behind the national capital system and this is sent searching for a greater brand for fulfillment. You don't read this book in an inner city church for a church study, you'd be ashamed to bring it up, mostly because Platt all but ignores the "good news" of God's gracious justice which intends to restore all things.
Finally, discipleship and dying to self from Platt felt like a self makeover and augmentation as Platt writes not about the loss of self but the enlargement of self as self discovers through Platt's book how to become part of the greatness and find fulfillment in the completion of self.
So, where would I point you if I wouldn't recommend Follow Me?
Read the Four Gospels
Read Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship (I'm baffled at how Platt wrote a modern book on discipleship with only one mention to Bonhoeffer's Discipleship)
Read Dallas Willard's The Great Omission or The Divine Conspiracy.
Read this hidden treasure with the same title as Platt's book: Follow Me by Luke Kammrath.
What is it about David Platt's writing that allows him to turn, the "Pick up your cross and follow me," of Jesus' teachings into a national best seller? (I'm suspicious�) Or, to play the cynic, does he lure people in with an intriguing, difficult message and then deflate the call to follow, or completely toss the message aside?
Kudos to David Platt for sparking a healthy critique of the church; moderate examination is always a sign of health. One thing Follow Me strongly accomplished was encouraging the question, "Is my experience of Christianity the full picture of what Jesus brings?"
Follow Me amplifies this healthy critique from Platt's earlier nationally resonant book, Radical. In Follow Me, Platt writes to reveal the who and how of "radical" Christian living.
In my reading, I discovered three healthy things and four unhealthy things from Follow Me.
Follow Me brings the question: "Isn't there supposed to be more than reading my Bible, going to church, and talking to people about Jesus? Jesus seems to ask more�"
Platt spells out the reality and origin of God causing new life to take root within us (p. 18); he illustrates that people who come face to face with Jesus do experience change and their lives are called into something different from their surroundings. This is the sanctifying work of grace.
Follow Me spells out the necessity of repentance and grace in our world (p.20), even though I think he missed the mark that God isn't out to do something impressive or worthy of glory, but rather that it's simply God's nature to dive head-first into the brokenness (theology of Glory vs theology of the cross).
Side Note:
On the point of grace, when writing about the end-goal of grace, I believe Platt misses that grace isn't about getting us to heaven, but about God bringing his justice into our world to make all things new, including you and me.
"If you and I know and believe that Jesus came to save us from hell for heaven, then we have no choice but to spend our lives on earth making that salvation known." (p.87)
[There's no doubt that all who rely by grace through faith on the person of Jesus will forever and for always be in the loving presence of God; but there's also no biblical doubt that the goal isn't to "get out" of earth but rather enflesh God's work of justice and mercy as we work and pray, "Your kingdom come�"]
Here are the elements of Follow Me that I felt missed the mark:
For a book about following Jesus, there was very little Jesus of the Gospels; Platt provided little Gospel narrative clarity on who you were going to follow, and what it looks like from a Gospels-perspective to follow. Readers were inundated with the necessity substitutionary atonement theory and the old evangelical adage: "Because Jesus did that, you should just follow, just follow."
Follow Me had no connection of Jesus or discipleship to the present reign of God (which Mark's Gospel explicitly states is "the Gospel", Mark 1:15). As I wrote above, Platt's starting point is a handful of preconceived doctrines (albeit biblical) rather than a biblical, Gospel narrative. He uses doctrinal bullet points rather than the story of Jesus to try to speak about discipleship.
There was very little direction for ordinary discipleship; Platt's litter of extraordinary missionary stories was deflating and felt grandiose (almost boastful). Plus, such adventures are markedly different than incarnational moving in with a people to share in the Gospel as a way of life, rather than the Gospel as a package to deliver.
Platt concludes Follow Me by inviting the reader into a very personal, though personally shared with others who are also on their personal faith journey, "following" program of: reading your Bible more, going to church more, and evangelizing more, with an ending caveat to encourage others to be disciples (of which Platt focuses little attention in his book).
Platt's conclusion, by my deduction, is that when people ask the above, "Isn't there more�" he says, "No, not really."
But can you blame him? He's excelled at drawing people into a large megachurch in Alabama; what Platt does well is getting people to do the normal church thing. Why would he want to critique that legacy and impressive success (by some standards) and say, "I think we've missed something�" There's a lot of risk for him in that.
My final thoughts:
Platt does provide the gift of a great question in Follow Me as he invites people to entertain the thought that discipleship is missing in a lot of the church today. But, I don't feel Platt's answers take us in the best direction; while his examples are helpful and sentimental at times, I don't think we can provide a healthy path of Christian discipleship if our noses aren't buried in the Gospel stories and from that experience asking with people in our community, "How do we live this life that Jesus came to bring?" …all this of course starts with the gracious embrace of God, which is what Platt tried hard to underscore.
My feel is that this book only makes sense for a comfortable audience who knows little of brokenness on the systemic level and who is numb to identity behind the national capital system and this is sent searching for a greater brand for fulfillment. You don't read this book in an inner city church for a church study, you'd be ashamed to bring it up, mostly because Platt all but ignores the "good news" of God's gracious justice which intends to restore all things.
Finally, discipleship and dying to self from Platt felt like a self makeover and augmentation as Platt writes not about the loss of self but the enlargement of self as self discovers through Platt's book how to become part of the greatness and find fulfillment in the completion of self.
So, where would I point you if I wouldn't recommend Follow Me?
Read the Four Gospels
Read Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship (I'm baffled at how Platt wrote a modern book on discipleship with only one mention to Bonhoeffer's Discipleship)
Read Dallas Willard's The Great Omission or The Divine Conspiracy.
Read this hidden treasure with the same title as Platt's book: Follow Me by Luke Kammrath.
February 20, 2017
I read a book by Platt recently and decided to read some of his other books. This book wasn't as challenging as "Counter-Culture" but nevertheless was a worthwhile read. Whilst "Counter- Culture" addresses specific issues and how Christians respond to them (abortion, gay marriage etc,) "Follow me" deals with Biblical discipleship. Platt begins by examining the state of Evangelical Christianity in the West (represented by North Americans) suggesting that most people that calls themselves "Evangelical" are not truly saved and are not following Jesus. He highlights that this is largely to do with easy believism, the "Sinner's prayer" and failing to count the cost when coming to Christ.
"In a world where everything revolves around self- protect yourself, promote yourself, preserve yourself, entertain yourself, comfort yourself, take care of yourself- Jesus said "Slay yourself."
"With good intentions and sincere desires to reach as many people as possible for Jesus we have subtly and deceptively minimized the magnitude of what it means to follow him. We've replaced challenging words from Christ with trite phrases in the Church. We've taken the lifeblood out of Christianity and put Kool-aid in its place so that it tastes better to the crowds and the consequences are catastrophic. Multitudes of men and women at this moment think they are saved from their sins when they are not. Scores of people around the world culturally think that they are Christians when biblically they are not."
He reminds us of the verse in Matthew 7 vs 22-23
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS"
He deals with "carnal" Christians (those who think they are saved but continue in habitual sin/there is no visible change in their lives when they come to faith.)
"If our lives do not reflect the fruit of following Jesus, then we are foolish to think that we are actually followers of Jesus in the first place."
He covers the holiness of God, church fellowship (what it is Biblically,) knowing the will of God by being in close relationship with Him and there is an extended section on evangelism. The author reminds us that we are all called to be "disciples making disciples." This is a sobering reminder;
"We email, Facebook, tweet and text with people who are going to spend eternity in either heaven or hell. Our lives are too short to waste on mere temporal conversations when massive eternal realities hang in the balance. Just as you and I have no guarantee that we will live through the day, the people around us are not guaranteed tomorrow either. So let's be intentional about sewing the threads of the gospel into the fabric of our conversations every day, knowing that it will not always be easy, yet believing that eternity will always be worth it."
Those were the good aspects.....I wasn't keen on the Intro by Francis Chan where he suggests that all of our decisions should be based upon what is going to have the greatest impact for God's Kingdom. He is speaking in connection with evangelism after he decided to relocate as he was no longer "effective" in his previous location. But I would suggest that we should base our decisions on where God calls us as individuals to go regardless how effective/successful we are as the fruit may not be known until we get to heaven.
I also didn't relate to a section in the middle of the book about our emotional response to what Christ has done for us. The author seems to make this necessary for salvation and in addition to obedience but how do we know if we love God;
"If you love me you will obey my commands" John 14 vs 15
I like the heart of this author and sense his sincere desire to shake "comfortable Christians" out of complacency and apathy. We need more like him who will challenge the Western church. However, I believe he goes a step too far occasionally by almost encouraging recklessness; mature Christians will be able to discern how to practically apply some of his more radical statements but new believers may make unwise decisions as a consequence.
I recommend this book for Christian readers desiring to truly follow Jesus.
"In a world where everything revolves around self- protect yourself, promote yourself, preserve yourself, entertain yourself, comfort yourself, take care of yourself- Jesus said "Slay yourself."
"With good intentions and sincere desires to reach as many people as possible for Jesus we have subtly and deceptively minimized the magnitude of what it means to follow him. We've replaced challenging words from Christ with trite phrases in the Church. We've taken the lifeblood out of Christianity and put Kool-aid in its place so that it tastes better to the crowds and the consequences are catastrophic. Multitudes of men and women at this moment think they are saved from their sins when they are not. Scores of people around the world culturally think that they are Christians when biblically they are not."
He reminds us of the verse in Matthew 7 vs 22-23
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS"
He deals with "carnal" Christians (those who think they are saved but continue in habitual sin/there is no visible change in their lives when they come to faith.)
"If our lives do not reflect the fruit of following Jesus, then we are foolish to think that we are actually followers of Jesus in the first place."
He covers the holiness of God, church fellowship (what it is Biblically,) knowing the will of God by being in close relationship with Him and there is an extended section on evangelism. The author reminds us that we are all called to be "disciples making disciples." This is a sobering reminder;
"We email, Facebook, tweet and text with people who are going to spend eternity in either heaven or hell. Our lives are too short to waste on mere temporal conversations when massive eternal realities hang in the balance. Just as you and I have no guarantee that we will live through the day, the people around us are not guaranteed tomorrow either. So let's be intentional about sewing the threads of the gospel into the fabric of our conversations every day, knowing that it will not always be easy, yet believing that eternity will always be worth it."
Those were the good aspects.....I wasn't keen on the Intro by Francis Chan where he suggests that all of our decisions should be based upon what is going to have the greatest impact for God's Kingdom. He is speaking in connection with evangelism after he decided to relocate as he was no longer "effective" in his previous location. But I would suggest that we should base our decisions on where God calls us as individuals to go regardless how effective/successful we are as the fruit may not be known until we get to heaven.
I also didn't relate to a section in the middle of the book about our emotional response to what Christ has done for us. The author seems to make this necessary for salvation and in addition to obedience but how do we know if we love God;
"If you love me you will obey my commands" John 14 vs 15
I like the heart of this author and sense his sincere desire to shake "comfortable Christians" out of complacency and apathy. We need more like him who will challenge the Western church. However, I believe he goes a step too far occasionally by almost encouraging recklessness; mature Christians will be able to discern how to practically apply some of his more radical statements but new believers may make unwise decisions as a consequence.
I recommend this book for Christian readers desiring to truly follow Jesus.
December 28, 2014
I am torn in how to rate this book. It's importance as a follower of Jesus is more than 5 stars and for that reason I would recommend every Christian to read it, and even every person to read it because of the material Platt presents. He does a very good job addressing all the shady, manipulative, and ineffective ways that pastors, preachers, and church leaders have tried to use to "lead people to Jesus" over the centuries and recent decades. I grew up in a church and church culture that relied on many of these techniques and sadly the results were sketchy at best. Following Jesus is a call from Jesus to whomever (myself in this case) would consider the request, "to follow" and to lose my/their life from that day forward, surrendering it fully to God and to whatever His will or plan for me/them and my/their life might be. I could go into this further, but read the book Platt does a better and more thorough job than I could here.
As far as the style and writing goes, it could have been better as I was not riveted by what I was reading. It is not a complicated message and may not have needed 225 pages to present. Yet, the stories, anecdotes, and illustrations I am sure will be helpful for someone who is not steeped in the material as I have been for years now and even more so recently.
If you have wondered, what is being a "Christian" really supposed to be about? If you have thought, can the Christians and churches I see here in America and in my part of the world really be what God intended? If as a Christian you have ever wondered, did I miss something about following Jesus along the way? Then I would recommend Platt's book for you. It will definitely help clarify some concerns and ambiguity as to what following Jesus is really all about.
As far as the style and writing goes, it could have been better as I was not riveted by what I was reading. It is not a complicated message and may not have needed 225 pages to present. Yet, the stories, anecdotes, and illustrations I am sure will be helpful for someone who is not steeped in the material as I have been for years now and even more so recently.
If you have wondered, what is being a "Christian" really supposed to be about? If you have thought, can the Christians and churches I see here in America and in my part of the world really be what God intended? If as a Christian you have ever wondered, did I miss something about following Jesus along the way? Then I would recommend Platt's book for you. It will definitely help clarify some concerns and ambiguity as to what following Jesus is really all about.
October 20, 2014
Ugh. I promise you I was hoping this was good. The first chapter wasn't too shabby ... but it continued. And continued. And continued. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. Somewhere in there Mr. Platt recites a letter he wrote to his now-wife from "back in the day," and he complains about his diction, tone, and content. Guess what, Mr. Platt: it's just as bad today. Once again Mr. Platt gives us his version of Christianity, an insular, eisegetical Christianity. Apparently the only way to be a true, authentic Christian is a) adopt a child from overseas and b) go overseas as a missionary (maybe for a short time, maybe for a long time). Anyone, especially an American, who tries to be a Christian without going overseas as a missionary is a failure (at best).
But before Mr. Platt gets there, he spends an inordinate amount of time deconstructing the lingo of contemporary American Christianity for no other reason than to pad out this pseudo-book. According to Mr. Platt, a "church" is a group of Christians, not a building. I was shattered when I read that. Also, "accepting Jesus into your heart" is not actually what happens when you "get saved." Heavens. The revelations keep coming. I don't know any Christians who don't know that, but then again I don't pastor a mega-church. One suspects if Platt is aware of a lot of misunderstanding concerning these pressing issues, perhaps mega-church pastors should do a better job teaching truth. Just a suggestion. Though one wonders when Mr. Platt has any time to actually do any pastoring.
This book is replete with travelogue escapades. One moment Platt is in Karachi, another he is in Jakarta. Now he is in Beijing, now Tunisia. Okay, those may not be the actual places he mentions, but he does have too many stories of his missions trips to several places in Asia, Africa, and probably other continents as well - though certainly no stories of missionary work in America. That is not genuine Christianity. When is he actually being a pastor? Maybe these stories are rare experiences over several years. Fine. That does not eliminate the fact he gives us no real substance on how to "Follow Jesus." It can't just be going on overseas missions trips. Platt derides religion, as if Christianity is not a religion. Newsflash: Christianity is a religion - unashamedly so! It's not "just a relationship." If it were, what would be wrong about making Jesus "your personal Lord and Savior" (another pet peeve of Platt's he spends too much time vainly attempting to refute).
Toward the end of the book, Platt realizes he needs to start telling his audience what Christianity is after spending a hundred-some pages about what he doesn't want it to be. Church life does not seem all that important to Platt, which probably wouldn't resonate too well with his mega-congregation (though since they are his congregation, they'll likely lap up whatever he says anyway). Apparently the church is a docking station for refreshment, a time for paling around for a bit on the way back out to the mission field. Realizing it might sound like the church isn't important, Platt tosses out more meaningless ideas such as "do life together as you grow." As usual, Platt offers no meaningful explanations for anything he says. He wants us simultaneously to abhor Christian jargon and passively accept it as if it is beyond explanation. Platt gives us example after example of "true" Christians who go overseas (the only mark of authenticity) and transform their businesses and lives ... but then he says "not every Christian is supposed to be like this." Except all his examples are like this!
This book is a mess. Platt even goes so far as to say the Disciples were NOT the ones who spread the gospel to other lands, generic no-name Christians were! The support he gives for this is ... well, none. Likely because there is none. He doesn't even stop to consider the implications of his declaration: if we are to "follow Jesus" like the Disciples did, we would be failures since the Disciples, according to Platt, didn't do what they were supposed to do! Plus, he totally gets the "witnesses" thing wrong. Christians today are not "witnesses" the way the Disciples were - we didn't see Jesus do what He did. Platt doesn't understand this. He assumes there is no difference between what the Disciples did and what we should do (other than their apparent failure at spreading the gospel).
Platt is in love with extraneous endnotes - next time, just put the Bible verse in parentheses in-text, please. Though, most of the time Platt feels like his paraphrases are more worth reading than the actual Bible verses. Perhaps that's why so few Christians know how to do Christianity "the right way." He even cites verses that refute what he is trying to prove, but he wheedles out of it with more blather. Surprising no one (but the author), Platt also complains about how he has received questions from readers of Schmadical (a better title of his last output) asking him about how to "do" Christianity correctly! Platt seems to have forgotten he prescribed a 5-part checklist on how to "do" Christianity correctly. Now we are to add "go overseas as a missionary" to the list.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Platt ever says anything about personal Bible study, committed prayer life, financial generosity, and other things. I could be wrong, though. Are we to plant churches, train leaders, disciple, translate languages? (Platt never says one word about spending time learning foreign languages or cultures - apparently we are only to go overseas where we can be understood from moment one.) Apparently not. Just go. Rub shoulders. Tell people about Jesus being Lord and Savior (certainly not their "personal" Lord and Savior) and make sure they don't pray a prayer - that would be wholly unscriptural if they pray a prayer. Just entrust them to God and go back home. Then go out to another missions trip. Tell people about what you witnessed ... of Jesus saving you, apparently.
I'm sorry, America. David Platt will not accept anyone being a missionary to you. You don't count, apparently. If only David Platt had written a book about what it means to follow Jesus. That might be worth reading.
But before Mr. Platt gets there, he spends an inordinate amount of time deconstructing the lingo of contemporary American Christianity for no other reason than to pad out this pseudo-book. According to Mr. Platt, a "church" is a group of Christians, not a building. I was shattered when I read that. Also, "accepting Jesus into your heart" is not actually what happens when you "get saved." Heavens. The revelations keep coming. I don't know any Christians who don't know that, but then again I don't pastor a mega-church. One suspects if Platt is aware of a lot of misunderstanding concerning these pressing issues, perhaps mega-church pastors should do a better job teaching truth. Just a suggestion. Though one wonders when Mr. Platt has any time to actually do any pastoring.
This book is replete with travelogue escapades. One moment Platt is in Karachi, another he is in Jakarta. Now he is in Beijing, now Tunisia. Okay, those may not be the actual places he mentions, but he does have too many stories of his missions trips to several places in Asia, Africa, and probably other continents as well - though certainly no stories of missionary work in America. That is not genuine Christianity. When is he actually being a pastor? Maybe these stories are rare experiences over several years. Fine. That does not eliminate the fact he gives us no real substance on how to "Follow Jesus." It can't just be going on overseas missions trips. Platt derides religion, as if Christianity is not a religion. Newsflash: Christianity is a religion - unashamedly so! It's not "just a relationship." If it were, what would be wrong about making Jesus "your personal Lord and Savior" (another pet peeve of Platt's he spends too much time vainly attempting to refute).
Toward the end of the book, Platt realizes he needs to start telling his audience what Christianity is after spending a hundred-some pages about what he doesn't want it to be. Church life does not seem all that important to Platt, which probably wouldn't resonate too well with his mega-congregation (though since they are his congregation, they'll likely lap up whatever he says anyway). Apparently the church is a docking station for refreshment, a time for paling around for a bit on the way back out to the mission field. Realizing it might sound like the church isn't important, Platt tosses out more meaningless ideas such as "do life together as you grow." As usual, Platt offers no meaningful explanations for anything he says. He wants us simultaneously to abhor Christian jargon and passively accept it as if it is beyond explanation. Platt gives us example after example of "true" Christians who go overseas (the only mark of authenticity) and transform their businesses and lives ... but then he says "not every Christian is supposed to be like this." Except all his examples are like this!
This book is a mess. Platt even goes so far as to say the Disciples were NOT the ones who spread the gospel to other lands, generic no-name Christians were! The support he gives for this is ... well, none. Likely because there is none. He doesn't even stop to consider the implications of his declaration: if we are to "follow Jesus" like the Disciples did, we would be failures since the Disciples, according to Platt, didn't do what they were supposed to do! Plus, he totally gets the "witnesses" thing wrong. Christians today are not "witnesses" the way the Disciples were - we didn't see Jesus do what He did. Platt doesn't understand this. He assumes there is no difference between what the Disciples did and what we should do (other than their apparent failure at spreading the gospel).
Platt is in love with extraneous endnotes - next time, just put the Bible verse in parentheses in-text, please. Though, most of the time Platt feels like his paraphrases are more worth reading than the actual Bible verses. Perhaps that's why so few Christians know how to do Christianity "the right way." He even cites verses that refute what he is trying to prove, but he wheedles out of it with more blather. Surprising no one (but the author), Platt also complains about how he has received questions from readers of Schmadical (a better title of his last output) asking him about how to "do" Christianity correctly! Platt seems to have forgotten he prescribed a 5-part checklist on how to "do" Christianity correctly. Now we are to add "go overseas as a missionary" to the list.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Platt ever says anything about personal Bible study, committed prayer life, financial generosity, and other things. I could be wrong, though. Are we to plant churches, train leaders, disciple, translate languages? (Platt never says one word about spending time learning foreign languages or cultures - apparently we are only to go overseas where we can be understood from moment one.) Apparently not. Just go. Rub shoulders. Tell people about Jesus being Lord and Savior (certainly not their "personal" Lord and Savior) and make sure they don't pray a prayer - that would be wholly unscriptural if they pray a prayer. Just entrust them to God and go back home. Then go out to another missions trip. Tell people about what you witnessed ... of Jesus saving you, apparently.
I'm sorry, America. David Platt will not accept anyone being a missionary to you. You don't count, apparently. If only David Platt had written a book about what it means to follow Jesus. That might be worth reading.
April 28, 2013
Take Paul Washer, put him in a t-shirt, have someone from DAAP design the book cover, and you have David Platt.
David Platt does an excellent job of exploring the difference between merely "believing" in the existence of Jesus and "following" Him. He condemns superficial religion while exhorting the importance of viewing the Church as a family. By the end of the book, Platt makes a good case that following Christ means that our life should and needs to reflect the change from the old man to the new man.
I think the most critical part of the book is the Personal Disciple Making Plan . This document will help you develop a method for growing your faith and the faith of others.
Jesus was initiating a revolution, but his revolution didn't revolve around the masses or multitudes. It revolved around a few men. Those few men would learn to think like him, love like him, teach like him, live like him, and serve like him... So let us be faithful to do the same. We are followers of Jesus. We have died to ourselves, and we now live in Christ... He has joined us together in bodies of believers called local churches for the accomplishment of one all-consuming commission: the declaration of the his gospel and the display of his glory to all the peoples of the world.
This task involves all of us. No child of God is intended by God to be sidelined as a spectator in the great commission. Every child of God has been invited by God to be on the front lines of the supreme mission in all of history, Every disciple of Jesus has been called, loved, created, and saved to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus until the grace of God is enjoyed and the glory of God is exalted among every people group on the planet.
This is a call worth dying for.
This is a King worth living for.
~ David Platt, Follow Me (Page 225-226)
David Platt does an excellent job of exploring the difference between merely "believing" in the existence of Jesus and "following" Him. He condemns superficial religion while exhorting the importance of viewing the Church as a family. By the end of the book, Platt makes a good case that following Christ means that our life should and needs to reflect the change from the old man to the new man.
I think the most critical part of the book is the Personal Disciple Making Plan . This document will help you develop a method for growing your faith and the faith of others.
Jesus was initiating a revolution, but his revolution didn't revolve around the masses or multitudes. It revolved around a few men. Those few men would learn to think like him, love like him, teach like him, live like him, and serve like him... So let us be faithful to do the same. We are followers of Jesus. We have died to ourselves, and we now live in Christ... He has joined us together in bodies of believers called local churches for the accomplishment of one all-consuming commission: the declaration of the his gospel and the display of his glory to all the peoples of the world.
This task involves all of us. No child of God is intended by God to be sidelined as a spectator in the great commission. Every child of God has been invited by God to be on the front lines of the supreme mission in all of history, Every disciple of Jesus has been called, loved, created, and saved to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus until the grace of God is enjoyed and the glory of God is exalted among every people group on the planet.
This is a call worth dying for.
This is a King worth living for.
~ David Platt, Follow Me (Page 225-226)
February 21, 2013
The writing is good. The issues are vital. David lives this out.
November 30, 2014
For me, Platt is on the attack too much. He's attacking surface faith, which needs to be exposed for what it is. He derides popular sayings like "personal Savior", giving it an overtone I've never really heard. Jesus IS our personal Savior, no matter how Platt spins it.
In doing that so much and so often, he fails to see the diversity God uses to win souls and make disciples. Yeah there are examples of those in business and "the world" but I really got the sense that Platt thought I had to be HIM to really please God. Not.
His books get great reviews from a lot of people. This didn't connect with me.
In doing that so much and so often, he fails to see the diversity God uses to win souls and make disciples. Yeah there are examples of those in business and "the world" but I really got the sense that Platt thought I had to be HIM to really please God. Not.
His books get great reviews from a lot of people. This didn't connect with me.
December 22, 2018
This is the first book I've ever read by David Platt, and he lacks nuance. His answer to the question, "What did Jesus mean when he said, 'Follow Me.'"? = Evangelism. He's not wrong, but there's more to this statement than simply share the gospel with your neighbors or go be an overseas missionary. Our purpose in life is not evangelism. The first catechism in the Westminster Catechisms asks "What is the chief end of man?" The answer is "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." Compare Platt's answer with this quote from John Piper's book on missions, "Let the Nations be Glad!" He says, "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever."
I was raised for part of my childhood in a Baptist church, and Platt is most definitely writing from a Baptist context and to a Baptist audience. In my experience, it is an excess of the Baptist church to define the Christian life by missions. They're not entirely wrong - it is of vital importance. We should all take Christ's command in the Great Commission more seriously. But to give that answer to the question of the meaning of life is wrong.
I was raised for part of my childhood in a Baptist church, and Platt is most definitely writing from a Baptist context and to a Baptist audience. In my experience, it is an excess of the Baptist church to define the Christian life by missions. They're not entirely wrong - it is of vital importance. We should all take Christ's command in the Great Commission more seriously. But to give that answer to the question of the meaning of life is wrong.
February 11, 2013
This book was one that I really looked forward to read, and it did not disappoint. Found it more challenging than Radical!! Dr. Platt lays it out for each and every believer our call to make disciples and what a true disciple of Christ looks like. If you attend church and are not involved in sharing your faith or helping others grow in their faith, put on your steel toed boots because your toes are going to be stepped on. Thank you Dr. Platt for challenging me and thank you Holy Spirit for convicting me in how I am need to be more involved in making disciples. Highly recommend this book to all believers!!
March 10, 2013
If you consider yourself a Christian.. this is a must read book. If you don't like change... then this book is not for you. You will be challenged to follow Christ, not just be a "Christian". There is a difference.
December 23, 2014
“The cross is laid on every Christian. It begins with the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death -- we give over our lives to death...When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.�
These words are from the first chapter of , Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s 1937 manual on what it means to follow Jesus. Bonhoeffer was in part decrying the German church’s capitulation to the Nazis, saying that true Christianity never follows the culture; it follows the risen Christ. Despite Bonhoeffer’s message - and just as importantly his life and death - Christians might even be further from true discipleship 75 years later. While today’s culture isn’t as overtly evil as Nazi Germany, contemporary Christians are arguably even harder to distinguish from the people around them.
No doubt, many Christians understand that they are falling short of full discipleship and that at least partially explains the reception Pastor David Platt has received for Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live. In the book, Platt explains that Christians have taken Christ’s clear message and distorted it - Americanized it. As he writes, “it seems like we have taken the costly command of Christ to go, baptize, and teach all nations and mutated it into a comfortable call for Christians to come, be baptized, and sit in one location.�
But knowing is one thing; doing, quite another. Platt’s notoriety among evangelicals has come as one calling on them to close this gap between knowledge and action. His first book, released in 2010, was titled and was an attempt to expose common aspects of contemporary western culture that run contrary to the gospel. The New York Times Bestseller propelled the youngest megachurch pastor in America to the forefront of evangelical circles.
Follow Me is the follow-up to Radical and where Radical tells Christians what to avoid, Follow Me tells them what to embrace, and that is the person of Jesus. This is what makes Christianity unique and, as Platt goes to lengths to point out, not just another religion. “When Jesus came on the scene in human history and began calling followers to himself, he did not say, ‘Follow certain rules. Observe specific regulations. Perform ritual duties. Pursue a particular path.� Instead, he said ‘Follow me.’� And more specifically for Platt, follow Jesus as fishers of men; making disciples.
Platt is communicating an important truth, one that he desperately wants Christians to hear. Speaking at the Verge Conference in March, he said he felt like he was “trying to cajole people into going out and making disciples.� It’s a message that Christians of all kinds would do well to wrestle with but, as Bonhoeffer pointed out 75 years ago, mostly do not. To what extent are we following a worldly master rather than the true master? How have we allowed the day-to-day of life to obscure Jesus� clear call?
But Platt takes the clarity of Jesus� call to make disciples and extends that clarity to His utterances about the kingdom. In the chapter titled “Unconverted Believers�, Platt writes “Multitudes of men and women at this moment think they are saved from their sins when they are not� (7). And “Clearly, people who claim to believe in Jesus are not assured eternity in heaven. On the contrary, only those who obey Jesus will enter his kingdom� (15). And �...there are a whole lot of people in the world who think they are Christians but are not� (17). And “People who claim to be Christians while their lives look no different from the world are clearly not Christians� (18, emphasis mine).
But some would question just where Platt gets this clarity. In , the Episcopal Priest Robert Farrar Capon explicates Jesus� parables about the kingdom and finds that kingdom “paradoxically and vexingly hidden.� That hiddenness led Capon to write that, “Jesus not only revealed himself, he hid himself at the same time.�
When issuing instructions to his disciples, Jesus was pretty revealing (although what does it say that after all His time and teaching it still took His death and resurrection for the disciples to comprehend?). But when it came to explaining who was in the kingdom and who wasn’t (or even where it was), Jesus wasn’t nearly as clear. (side note: clear is clearly one of Platt’s favorite words). And I think there’s a very good reason for that: it’s not for us to judge.
While a response to Jesus� call can be easy to discern, it isn't always, especially in the stark terms presented by Platt. In Follow Me, the examples he gives of obedience are of people going to exotic locales experiencing dramatic success. They're missionaries to lands populated by Hindus and Muslims. People leaving everything behind and going “over there.�
But what about the person called to live as a witness to their suburban neighbor? Or to the person in the next cubicle? Their lives won't look as radical as the foreign missionary, but are they not followers of Jesus? Are they not in the kingdom?
This is like the point C.S. Lewis makes in : “Human beings judge one another by their external actions. God judges them by their moral choices...When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing, does some tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God's eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend...We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it.�
In other words, the reclusive old widower who witnesses to his mail carrier - never to see an actual profession of faith, but only to plant a seed - may be more radical than the high-powered business executive who sells everything she has and heads to the mission field.
The biggest problem of over-radicalizing the life of faith is that it undermines Platt’s best point in Follow Me: “it’s not about you.� In a chapter titled “The Great Invitation� Platt rightly takes issue with those who say they “invited Jesus into their hearts.� It may be an issue of semantics, but within it lies an important distinction. God initiates contact. You don’t. St. Irenaeus puts it like this: “how shall man pass into God, unless God has [first] passed into man?�
It starts, but doesn't stop with initiation. Platt goes to great lengths to disabuse us of our self-centeredness. You don’t come up with the plan for your life. God does. You can't save yourself, Jesus does. Jesus didn't die so that you could say the sinner’s prayer, ascent to a list of beliefs, live a normal American life and pass the final exam on judgement day. He died so that you might also die to this world and join him in reaching every tribe and every nation.
This is where Follow Me shines the brightest. Being a disciple means so much more than just belief. If there’s no evidence of a changed life, the “unconverted believer� would do well to examine themselves to uncover just what it is they are really following. So if you are feeling like there must be more to the Christian life, pick up Follow Me. And then start following Jesus.
These words are from the first chapter of , Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s 1937 manual on what it means to follow Jesus. Bonhoeffer was in part decrying the German church’s capitulation to the Nazis, saying that true Christianity never follows the culture; it follows the risen Christ. Despite Bonhoeffer’s message - and just as importantly his life and death - Christians might even be further from true discipleship 75 years later. While today’s culture isn’t as overtly evil as Nazi Germany, contemporary Christians are arguably even harder to distinguish from the people around them.
No doubt, many Christians understand that they are falling short of full discipleship and that at least partially explains the reception Pastor David Platt has received for Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live. In the book, Platt explains that Christians have taken Christ’s clear message and distorted it - Americanized it. As he writes, “it seems like we have taken the costly command of Christ to go, baptize, and teach all nations and mutated it into a comfortable call for Christians to come, be baptized, and sit in one location.�
But knowing is one thing; doing, quite another. Platt’s notoriety among evangelicals has come as one calling on them to close this gap between knowledge and action. His first book, released in 2010, was titled and was an attempt to expose common aspects of contemporary western culture that run contrary to the gospel. The New York Times Bestseller propelled the youngest megachurch pastor in America to the forefront of evangelical circles.
Follow Me is the follow-up to Radical and where Radical tells Christians what to avoid, Follow Me tells them what to embrace, and that is the person of Jesus. This is what makes Christianity unique and, as Platt goes to lengths to point out, not just another religion. “When Jesus came on the scene in human history and began calling followers to himself, he did not say, ‘Follow certain rules. Observe specific regulations. Perform ritual duties. Pursue a particular path.� Instead, he said ‘Follow me.’� And more specifically for Platt, follow Jesus as fishers of men; making disciples.
Platt is communicating an important truth, one that he desperately wants Christians to hear. Speaking at the Verge Conference in March, he said he felt like he was “trying to cajole people into going out and making disciples.� It’s a message that Christians of all kinds would do well to wrestle with but, as Bonhoeffer pointed out 75 years ago, mostly do not. To what extent are we following a worldly master rather than the true master? How have we allowed the day-to-day of life to obscure Jesus� clear call?
But Platt takes the clarity of Jesus� call to make disciples and extends that clarity to His utterances about the kingdom. In the chapter titled “Unconverted Believers�, Platt writes “Multitudes of men and women at this moment think they are saved from their sins when they are not� (7). And “Clearly, people who claim to believe in Jesus are not assured eternity in heaven. On the contrary, only those who obey Jesus will enter his kingdom� (15). And �...there are a whole lot of people in the world who think they are Christians but are not� (17). And “People who claim to be Christians while their lives look no different from the world are clearly not Christians� (18, emphasis mine).
But some would question just where Platt gets this clarity. In , the Episcopal Priest Robert Farrar Capon explicates Jesus� parables about the kingdom and finds that kingdom “paradoxically and vexingly hidden.� That hiddenness led Capon to write that, “Jesus not only revealed himself, he hid himself at the same time.�
When issuing instructions to his disciples, Jesus was pretty revealing (although what does it say that after all His time and teaching it still took His death and resurrection for the disciples to comprehend?). But when it came to explaining who was in the kingdom and who wasn’t (or even where it was), Jesus wasn’t nearly as clear. (side note: clear is clearly one of Platt’s favorite words). And I think there’s a very good reason for that: it’s not for us to judge.
While a response to Jesus� call can be easy to discern, it isn't always, especially in the stark terms presented by Platt. In Follow Me, the examples he gives of obedience are of people going to exotic locales experiencing dramatic success. They're missionaries to lands populated by Hindus and Muslims. People leaving everything behind and going “over there.�
But what about the person called to live as a witness to their suburban neighbor? Or to the person in the next cubicle? Their lives won't look as radical as the foreign missionary, but are they not followers of Jesus? Are they not in the kingdom?
This is like the point C.S. Lewis makes in : “Human beings judge one another by their external actions. God judges them by their moral choices...When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing, does some tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God's eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend...We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it.�
In other words, the reclusive old widower who witnesses to his mail carrier - never to see an actual profession of faith, but only to plant a seed - may be more radical than the high-powered business executive who sells everything she has and heads to the mission field.
The biggest problem of over-radicalizing the life of faith is that it undermines Platt’s best point in Follow Me: “it’s not about you.� In a chapter titled “The Great Invitation� Platt rightly takes issue with those who say they “invited Jesus into their hearts.� It may be an issue of semantics, but within it lies an important distinction. God initiates contact. You don’t. St. Irenaeus puts it like this: “how shall man pass into God, unless God has [first] passed into man?�
It starts, but doesn't stop with initiation. Platt goes to great lengths to disabuse us of our self-centeredness. You don’t come up with the plan for your life. God does. You can't save yourself, Jesus does. Jesus didn't die so that you could say the sinner’s prayer, ascent to a list of beliefs, live a normal American life and pass the final exam on judgement day. He died so that you might also die to this world and join him in reaching every tribe and every nation.
This is where Follow Me shines the brightest. Being a disciple means so much more than just belief. If there’s no evidence of a changed life, the “unconverted believer� would do well to examine themselves to uncover just what it is they are really following. So if you are feeling like there must be more to the Christian life, pick up Follow Me. And then start following Jesus.
March 8, 2023
Definitely recommend this book to anyone that has grown up going to church. It spends the entire first half of the book talking about what it really means to follow Christ, and how people have oversimplified being a Christian. Platt writes that following Christ is much more than praying the “sinner’s prayer�, and he uses scripture to show the reader what true repentance should look like. I wish I had read this book when I was younger!
Overall, I enjoyed it and might re-read it in the future. My only criticism is that some parts were a bit too drawn out.
Overall, I enjoyed it and might re-read it in the future. My only criticism is that some parts were a bit too drawn out.
May 17, 2024
i loved this book! took me forever to give it the attention it deserves but it’s incredibly challenging. platt gives some really great stories and challenges to make you rethink what it means to truly follow Jesus
March 15, 2021
Engaging & full of truth in typical Platt form. Nothing groundbreaking but offers a great starting point for departing from cultural Christianity and taking practical steps towards leading a life of truly following Christ.
October 2, 2021
Es un libro retador que nos invita a salir de nuestra zona de confort, morir a nosotros mismo para vivir para Cristo.
March 6, 2015
Why did you start this book?
I think I discovered David Platt a year ago or so and I have listened to some of his sermons and have been quite impressed with his commitment God, his passion to serve Him at any cost, and his enthusiasm for holy living. So, naturally I wanted to read his books. This is the first one I picked up and I went into it with high expectations.
Why did you finish this book?
This book was finished by willpower - it does have truth in it and it is helpful and it would feel wrong to quit a book like that. I also own the copy and would feel guilty for leaving it on the shelf unfinished.
What did you like?
I like how David Platt isn't afraid of the truth: he declares it openly, honestly, and humbly and doesn't sugar-coat it. And this book is full of such beautiful truth declaring.
What did you not like?
Follow Me felt largely over-simplified and dumbed down. Platt utilizes a lot of overworn Christian phrases and buzzwords and glosses over the surface of things. His writing lacks elegance, maturity, and depth (he is no Timothy Keller) and maybe in time he will grow into a more palatable style. Again, I do appreciate his heart and his efforts, but this book is probably not destined to be a Christian classic.
P.S. And now I feel guilty for writing a semi-negative review of this book. I do think that David Platt is an excellent preacher and public speaker. Probably others would disagree with my assessment of his writing - but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
I think I discovered David Platt a year ago or so and I have listened to some of his sermons and have been quite impressed with his commitment God, his passion to serve Him at any cost, and his enthusiasm for holy living. So, naturally I wanted to read his books. This is the first one I picked up and I went into it with high expectations.
Why did you finish this book?
This book was finished by willpower - it does have truth in it and it is helpful and it would feel wrong to quit a book like that. I also own the copy and would feel guilty for leaving it on the shelf unfinished.
What did you like?
I like how David Platt isn't afraid of the truth: he declares it openly, honestly, and humbly and doesn't sugar-coat it. And this book is full of such beautiful truth declaring.
What did you not like?
Follow Me felt largely over-simplified and dumbed down. Platt utilizes a lot of overworn Christian phrases and buzzwords and glosses over the surface of things. His writing lacks elegance, maturity, and depth (he is no Timothy Keller) and maybe in time he will grow into a more palatable style. Again, I do appreciate his heart and his efforts, but this book is probably not destined to be a Christian classic.
P.S. And now I feel guilty for writing a semi-negative review of this book. I do think that David Platt is an excellent preacher and public speaker. Probably others would disagree with my assessment of his writing - but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
July 16, 2019
I found a non-redundant Christian book 😭🙌🏼 this book is challenging and well-written and refreshingly not cheesy (most of the time). It ends with some guidelines for practical application which are helpful for those of us who read books like this and go “yes, but how?�
I will say that this book may not be helpful for people struggling with assurance - I’d start with listening to Platts “necessity of faith� sermon to understand his heart before diving into a book where his intention is to “wake up� nominal Christians who don’t understand the call of the gospel. It is meant to be challenging and instructive, not debilitating, and while Platt definitely champions the gospel of grace- not works- it’s hard to write a book like this and not scare some genuine Christians into thinking they aren’t “doing enough�. Thus, start with that sermon, as it explains very well the nature of faith and how that flows into the works outlined in books like this.
I will say that this book may not be helpful for people struggling with assurance - I’d start with listening to Platts “necessity of faith� sermon to understand his heart before diving into a book where his intention is to “wake up� nominal Christians who don’t understand the call of the gospel. It is meant to be challenging and instructive, not debilitating, and while Platt definitely champions the gospel of grace- not works- it’s hard to write a book like this and not scare some genuine Christians into thinking they aren’t “doing enough�. Thus, start with that sermon, as it explains very well the nature of faith and how that flows into the works outlined in books like this.
February 6, 2019
If you struggle to carry out God's commission to go and make disciples of all nations, this book is for you! I truly enjoyed it, and it does inspired you to leave everything behind, put your "yes" on the table to God and go! Must read by every Christian!
“Why are so many supposed Christians sitting on the sidelines of the church, maybe even involved in the machinery of the church, but not wholeheartedly, passionately, sacrificially, and joyfully giving their lives to making disciples of all the nations? Could it be because so many people in the church have settled for superficial religion instead of supernatural regeneration?�
“To be a disciple of Jesus is to make disciples of Jesus.�
“Our greatest need is not to try harder. Our greatest need is a new heart.�
Almost as good as his book "Radical"
“Why are so many supposed Christians sitting on the sidelines of the church, maybe even involved in the machinery of the church, but not wholeheartedly, passionately, sacrificially, and joyfully giving their lives to making disciples of all the nations? Could it be because so many people in the church have settled for superficial religion instead of supernatural regeneration?�
“To be a disciple of Jesus is to make disciples of Jesus.�
“Our greatest need is not to try harder. Our greatest need is a new heart.�
Almost as good as his book "Radical"
March 4, 2013
A solid follow-up to radical, with a little more meat on it.
The book begins with bold statements on the nature of biblical salvation, shooting down alot of contemporary easy-believism.
He is still a bit repetitive, I feel like the message of the book can be gained in the first couple of chapters, but he does go on to give some important points about community in faith later in the book. Also, the end of the book is pretty practical on application of discipleship.
Overall, a good book. Worth reading.
The book begins with bold statements on the nature of biblical salvation, shooting down alot of contemporary easy-believism.
He is still a bit repetitive, I feel like the message of the book can be gained in the first couple of chapters, but he does go on to give some important points about community in faith later in the book. Also, the end of the book is pretty practical on application of discipleship.
Overall, a good book. Worth reading.
June 10, 2014
Why, after reading "Radical" and radically disagreeing with it, did I read "Follow Me"? I heard that David Platt had changed some of his errors in the first book. If he did, I didn't notice.
Platt gets basic Christianity right, and understands a lot of the errors that are perpetuated in modern Evangelicalism, but he still fundamentally misunderstands the Great Commission.
Platt gets basic Christianity right, and understands a lot of the errors that are perpetuated in modern Evangelicalism, but he still fundamentally misunderstands the Great Commission.
February 7, 2013
I'll probably read this again.
Cause = Regeneration
Effect = Discipleship
Cause = Regeneration
Effect = Discipleship
August 17, 2013
First half was interesting, second half felt like I was getting beaten over the head. Great truth, could have been half the length in my opinion.
July 4, 2016
A great book for those searching for what it means to live and die for Christ. Also a great resource for those looking to enhance their approach to evangelism and disciple making.
April 5, 2018
All I can say is this: Read this book!
June 1, 2018
A convicting read with plenty of helpful clarity on the call to evangelize. The chapter on God's will was especially edifying. .
February 9, 2023
Reading this opened my eyes to many behaviors that need changing. Most notably, I’ve never been one to persuade but rather inform, and I haven’t even attempted either in relation to Christ. A strong eye opener, but the book is often monotonous like when the preacher gets way too caught up in what he’s talking about. “You’re right and make a good point, but I’m tired of hearing the same one��.
April 20, 2021
Incredible. Probably better than radical. Its encouraging me to actually live out my faith and explains that faith without works is truly dead.
August 31, 2013
Platt again makes a challenge to nominal Christian living (check out his book Radical). The whole of Christianity is not “asking Jesus into your heart”—but rather in following Christ. Believing the gospel is not the end, or merely the means to an end, or just an escape from hell. Believing the gospel is a start to a brand new life, one in which Jesus calls to fearful and stubborn hearts: “Follow me.� Not always a fan of modern Christian living books, David Platt has not failed to challenge my thinking yet.
Mainstream American Christianity must wake up and realize what is at stake. A lot of false conversions, because we’re soft on sin. A lot of wasted opportunities, because we’re too busy pursuing the “American dream.� A lack of life abundantly, because we’re too busy even with good things to truly fellowship with Jesus. A lot of baby Christians, because we’re too busy or fearful or selfish to invest in others in discipleship. Platt calls us to see the mission: Jesus transforms us, and even as He works in us, we invest in others. This cycle must be repeated until the trumpet calls!
Mainstream American Christianity must wake up and realize what is at stake. A lot of false conversions, because we’re soft on sin. A lot of wasted opportunities, because we’re too busy pursuing the “American dream.� A lack of life abundantly, because we’re too busy even with good things to truly fellowship with Jesus. A lot of baby Christians, because we’re too busy or fearful or selfish to invest in others in discipleship. Platt calls us to see the mission: Jesus transforms us, and even as He works in us, we invest in others. This cycle must be repeated until the trumpet calls!
February 25, 2016
3.5 stars. Platt urges all believers to be disciple makers, and powerfully so. This is an important call, and he makes it using a decent amount of scripture, with a strong emphasis on the sovereignty of God over salvation.
But he is weak in the dominion mandate. Though he does lip service to the legitimacy of varying vocations, he strongly implies that all Christians would be foreign missionaries if they were fully committed to Jesus.
He also makes several of the standard mistaken evangelical assumptions: That missionary means evangelist. That the explosion of the church in OT-saturated, covenant-conscious, 1st century Israel is the standard church growth pattern to expect everywhere. That the command to the corporate church (migrate, preach, baptize, and disciple nations) is a command to individual Christians. That the NT commands are all that still apply.
But I would still recommend it, mainly because the need for legions of reformed, brave, foreign evangelists/church-planters/seminary-builders is so real and so urgent. Not everyone should go, but everyone should seriously consider and pray about it. If this book will get to you, I'm for it.
But he is weak in the dominion mandate. Though he does lip service to the legitimacy of varying vocations, he strongly implies that all Christians would be foreign missionaries if they were fully committed to Jesus.
He also makes several of the standard mistaken evangelical assumptions: That missionary means evangelist. That the explosion of the church in OT-saturated, covenant-conscious, 1st century Israel is the standard church growth pattern to expect everywhere. That the command to the corporate church (migrate, preach, baptize, and disciple nations) is a command to individual Christians. That the NT commands are all that still apply.
But I would still recommend it, mainly because the need for legions of reformed, brave, foreign evangelists/church-planters/seminary-builders is so real and so urgent. Not everyone should go, but everyone should seriously consider and pray about it. If this book will get to you, I'm for it.
July 31, 2024
I've been looking forward to reading this book ever since I heard it was coming out. Platt's other book Radical has been very impactful in my life. I was eager to read this follow up, and it certainly does not disappoint. As a matter of fact, I think Follow Me is even more impactful. I fear there is an epidemic of easy-believism in the North American church. Christ instructed his disciples to follow Him. He never said to his disciples, "accept Me into your hearts." Who are we to "accept" Christ? He is the one who accepts us as adopted children! Christ compels us to follow him and repent of our sins. While conversion is a one time event, repentance is a daily act. Platt goes into great detail in this book on this very issue. Additionally, if we are to follow Christ, we are called to make disciples of all nations. A result of following Jesus is to make disciples of Jesus. This book does an excellent job of explaining what it really means to be a follower of Jesus. I highly recommend it!
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