Christianity is radical, and that's a good thing. It all has to do with our roots and where they are.
Usually this word "radical" has been given negative connotations, such as "radical Islamists" or a "radical agenda." We hear of terrorists being "radicalized." When our secular society describes Christians as radicals, people are left with the impression that we are breaking the law or are just a bunch of wing-nuts bereft of our senses. It is often assumed that "radical" always means uprooted. Just the opposite is true. We need to see the appropriate side of this important word. All radicalism is not wrong.
The word "radical" actually comes from the Latin word for "root" (from which the vegetable "radish" gets its name). For some, this word means "politically extreme," and for a teenager it can mean "excellent." But the original meeting is that something is rooted. What it is rooted in makes all the difference.
Because of all the negative associations, this word has caused many Christians to conceal their roots (and subsequently, their fruits). But we can't let the world define us. God must define who we are; we need to display it to the world. Alex Haley became famous through his book and the movie about his African ancestral "Roots." It was his heritage. Christians have an even richer heritage. As Christians we are rooted in a covenant relationship with God that takes our "roots" back to Adam and to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Radical Christianity must be a faith and life which has roots that sink deeply into our faith in Jesus Christ. That's where a root draws its life. Jesus reminded us in the parable of the sower about the danger of having no root. "But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away" (Luke 8:13).
When Reformers like Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and others planted the seeds of the Protestant Reformation, they were certainly considered "radicals" by their enemies. They were seen as departing from the accepted traditions and superstitions of the church. Radicals were often branded as heretics and many paid with their blood. Protestants did not want a revolution. They wanted a radical reformation-one that returned the church to its biblical roots. The Roman Catholics hated it precisely because it was radical.
Actually, these men were radicals in that they directed the church back to its roots in Jesus Christ. Their teachings were rooted in the Bible alone. They again understood that the root problem of man was sin. Salvation was again rooted in the grace of God through true faith in Christ. These were considered radical ideas at the time.
Where we stand today, we need to rekindle this sort of godly radicalism in the church. Get back to our roots! If that is going to happen, it will have to have its root in the Bible. I fear that in many ways we have allowed ourselves to drift from the essential truths of the Gospel. The liberal church has had a pretty radical (in the bad sense) agenda for some time. The reason for this is that their roots have sunk deeply into secular humanism. The root problem with man, however, is his fallen nature, and those dead roots can never produce life.
If the determining factor of why we do something is rooted in man, that is an ungodly radicalism that must be overthrown. Jesus said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted" (Matt. 15:13).
The reason that the seed of the Gospel often does not endure is a root problem, but where God's Spirit has prepared the fertile ground of the heart, that seed will become rooted, grow, and bear much fruit. "He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5).
We all need to assess where we are. The church needs to examine where its roots are. Just where are those roots? We may be tempted to look to our forefathers or to the Reformers for our roots. While that may be beneficial, it is not enough. Our whole life must be rooted in Christ from whom all blessings flow. The Reformation pointed us to Christ as the only Savior and Lord. It is that kind of "radicalism" that we must be part of. It's a good thing to be well-rooted.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way for us, "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving" (Col. 2:6-7).
