Platt Challenges Christians to be Faithful to the Gospel

David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., spoke to an overflowing chapel of students, faculty, staff and friends of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Platt said: “It is always an honor to be here, I praise God for what He is doing on this campus for the edification and exaltation of the Gospel among the nations.”

“In one sense my heart is encouraged, particularly among younger evangelicals, as I sense opposition to injustice regarding the poor, orphaned and enslaved,” said Platt. “Yet at the same time, I am concerned by a lack of zeal on social issues that are just as, if not more important. These issues include abortion, sexual immorality and so called same sex marriage.”

The aim of Platt’s sermon was to call the members and leaders of Christ’s church to a contrite, compassionate and courageous battle on the front lines of our culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Platt focused on the heart of his message from Genesis 1 through 3 and spoke about four biblical foundations and their cultural implications from the text.

Found in Genesis 1, “God creates us as a demonstration of His glory. … Not natural selection but supernatural provision,” said Platt. This reveals that man is created in the image of God with the unique capacity to relate, know, walk and worship God.

In Genesis 2, Platt said, “God designs us for the display of His Gospel. Man and women were created with equal dignity, value and importance before God yet clearly designed with different roles. Both compliment each other. … That through this [marriage] relationship it may show the world the relationship between Christ and the church,” said Platt.

From Genesis 3, Platt shared how God judges us by His righteous law. “Questioning God’s Word leads to doubting God’s character,” said Platt. As mentioned in Romans 5, all have sinned, yet God seeks the guilty.

The fourth foundation was: God pursues us with His redeeming love. “These four truths form the essence of the gospel,” said Platt.

“Consider the massive ramifications of these truths applied to the battle fronts of our day, “ said Platt. “So what do we do?”

The first cultural implication based on first biblical foundation was on the topic of abortion. “We do not have a choice; we are constrained by the gospel to fight abortion as an assault on God’s creation and an affront to God’s glory. … We live in a country where 1 million babies are aborted each year. 3,000 everyday and one baby every 20 to 25 seconds. All over the world 130,000 abortions occur everyday.

“I do not believe it is an overstatement to call abortion a modern holocaust. I believe that is an understatement, every month we surpass that number of people systematically slaughtered all over the world,” said Platt. “We must not hide from the reality of what is happening all around the country and all over the world.”

“God is creating a person in His image in that womb. That gospel reality changes everything,” said Platt.

“In reference to the second biblical truth, we flee sexual immorality in our lives. … We must do 1 Corinthians 6:18, run from, not reason or rationalize with it,” said Platt. “We defend sexual complimentary in marriage for the sake of the Gospel and the world.”

“Today’s cultural climate creates a huge opportunity for Gospel witness through marriage,” said Platt. “God’s design for marriage is far more breathtaking and satisfying than anything our culture will ever create.”

Platt said: “The third cultural implication is that we work for justice in the world as we speak about the Judge of the world. … We must reflect His character in a world that is filled with the weak and fatherless, the sick and needy, the impoverished and enslaved.” The calling in Micah 6:8 to do justice is modeled by giving a cup of clean water or building a well with clean water while declaring the gospel of the living water.

Lastly, “We must give our lives and lead our churches to pursue people still unreached by God’s redeeming love. Surely the greatest injustice in our day without question is that 6,000 people groups and two billion people yet to even hear of God’s redeeming love,” said Platt.

The service was held on Aug. 27 in Binkley Chapel on the Southeastern campus.

In closing Platt said: “Christ is worthy of glory from every single people group on the planet. There is a battle that is raging in North America and among the nations. I challenge you today to engage in the battle. … To engage the gospel on battlefronts across our culture is to be faithful to the gospel in our day.”

To listen or watch the sermon online please click here.
To view photos from the chapel service please click here.