David Platt calls believers to a wholehearted devotion to missions
January 19, 2017
A highlight of Global Missions Week at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) was guest speaker, David Platt, senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala.
Platt preached in chapel on April 3rd wearing cargo pants and a quick dry polo shirt in honor of dress like Danny Akin day. Students, faculty and friends of Southeastern enjoyed sporting styles typically worn by Akin in celebration of his 10-year anniversary as President of Southeastern.
“I feel like I’m going on a mission trip to the masters,” Platt said. “Would it be, when it comes to a heart for the Great Commission, this room would be full of Danny Akins. … I count it a pure joy to partner together in the Gospel with you.”
Earlier in the year, Platt spent two weeks in Nepal and was studying the Gospel of Luke. His sermon posed three questions from Luke 9:57-62 focusing on sacrificing for missions with an undivided heart.
“Are we going to choose comfort or are we going to choose the cross?” he said. “Christianity is not a path to more comforts, higher status or greater ease. … The road that Jesus walked began with a demand for self-denial.”
The audience was called to leave a place of comfort and go to those who are in great need. The average American lives on $90 a day and the average world citizen lives on $2 a day.
Platt challenged listeners to be rich towards God and stop trying to justify peacetime behavior for a church that should be at war against Satan. He highlighted the reality of those who are “coasting through the corridors of casual Christianity in this culture” instead of sacrificing for the Kingdom of God to advance. He stated that sex trafficking and other issues are extremely complex but need to be addressed.
“Are we going to settle for maintenance or sacrifice for mission?” Platt said. “The idea that ‘I can’t do everything so I won’t do anything’ is straight from the pit of Hell.” He focused on the millions of people who will die and never hear the Gospel. “The concept of UPGs [unreached people groups] should be totally intolerable to us,” he emphasized.
“Will our lives be marked by indecisive minds or undivided hearts?” Platt said. “We do not have the option of following Jesus on our own terms. … To love Christ in a way that makes our closest relationships in the world look like hate in comparison.”
His words’ called students to take action now. “My indecision and delay turns into inaction and obedience,” Platt explained. “We know the will of God. … He desires the salvation of the nations.”
“This seminary, at this moment, is marked as a Great Commission seminary,” Platt noted. “Pray … for a high grade sense of Gospel to compel you as those who have been rescued and delivered and provided for and saved. … To sacrifice for mission with an undivided heart as we look forward to the day when this road will ultimately lead to seeing His face and giving Him glory with every people group on the planet. It’s worth it giving our life for that.”
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