Comments on Pillar on the Rock: 3 Reasons to be Restrained About Relevance

ETSX-MAN and Jaimie: thanks! tim—I quite agree. T...

2010-01-05T15:56:31.068-06:00

ETSX-MAN and Jaimie: thanks!

tim—I quite agree. That's one of the points I'm going to hit on next week, and it's one of the points I've tried to make before and that we'll come back to again and again. I think "relevant" has come to the forefront as our word of choice because irrelevance has so often characterized the church. People have spent time dithering—and splitting churches—over carpet color, where to hold the next church potluck, etc. on the one hand, and filled the church with "therapeutic moralistic deism" on the other. The gospel is relevant—but it's been the gospel thathas been left out one way or another.

Making the gospel intelligible is in many ways a direct contrast with our often futile efforst in the direction of "relevance" (which usually means trying to act enough like the world to seem cool but little enough that we aren't across our lines of moralism).

the problem with this issue is actually that it of...

2010-01-05T15:14:02.654-06:00

the problem with this issue is actually that it often shows an inadequate view of the gospel. it is impossible for the gospel to be irrelevant. it simply cannot be. every philosophical, artistic, cultural, relational, theological, or moral failure in human history is because we have at that point been out of touch with what god has been doing in history to relate to and save us and the universe we live in. how can this be irrelevant?

the problem, I think, is simply poor word choice. instead of irrelevant, the problem is often unintelligibility. people just don't get it, often because we don't speak their language or understand them. and I think, like you've hinted at, "relevance" in gospel proclamation can actually conceal the greatness and mystery of the gospel of Jesus. Just like Jesus, it is the messenger, but not the message, that changes.

"...churches that are neither afraid of the w...

2010-01-05T13:20:29.490-06:00

"...churches that are neither afraid of the world nor in love with it..." Fantastic! This pretty much sums it up with two Biblical concepts: we have none to fear but God,and anything that we put before Him is an idol. I enjoyed this post!

Good post!

2010-01-05T10:00:10.144-06:00

Good post!