The apostle Paul, nearing the end of his difficult life, seeks to encourage his friend and son in the faith, Timothy. Timothy is a pastor in Ephesus, where many of those that he and Paul considered to be friends are now opposing the message of the gospel. Paul warns of these men and the effect of their false teaching in the church.
“FUUUMMMMMBBBBLLLLE!!”
I yelled at the TV screen that hung on the wall. I yelled again as if it would help my team to somehow realize that the pig skin was on the ground and now having heard my yelp, certainly they would be more inclined to jump on the ball.
I begin this post once again stating that I am not for irrelevance!
The church must be relevant and as I said in the last post – Truth IS relevant.
Read the last 2 posts here:
My concern is when the church, pastors, and believers lust to be relevant today. And in that lust there lies a warning or concern. Is it possible that in the lust for relevance that we lose sight of truth and in so doing we become “ear ticklers”?
Is it possible in the name of wanting to add people to the church that we water down the message of the Gospel and ones need for salvation?
And, if we water down the gospel and yet we are “relevant” don’t we need to ask: “What exactly are people being saved to?”
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV)
Paul has been exhorting Timothy to preach the Word. Why? Because the Word IS relevant.
It is a sad day when pastors concern themselves more with political correctness than bible correctness. It is dangerous when we study cultural relevance without seeing how relevant the Word is to our culture.
In the name of love, we don’t want to offend. We allow culture to define what is love. This then silences or edits the believer from saying anything of value at all.
The gospel my friend, IS offensive. The Word, speaking of itself, says it is “folly to those who do not believe….”
The Word calls us sinners. Sinners need to repent. Because, hell and judgement awaits the un-forgiven sinner…..
And that is offensive! It is offensive to sinners, but it is relevant to sinners!
The Christian, the pastor, the church that says nothing of sin, repentance, and our need for a Savior…. well that is like a Dr. who will not tell the patient he is chronically sick. The Dr. is by no means showing love by withholding that information. No, we call that malpractice. And the Dr. gets slapped with a lawsuit for that lack of love!
Listen to the words of Jesus:
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” Jesus (John 15:18-20).
I do not hear Jesus saying here, “Be relevant so everyone will be attracted to you and your church!”
In Mark 10 we see Jesus being relevant to the rich young ruler. And the result of His relevant truths caused this man to walk away sad.
Be careful, Christian. A wrong understanding of relevance might render you silent and thus irrelevant in a culture that needs truth and love. If cultural relevance is your guide, well, you are on shifting sand. Today’s cultural relevance will be irrelevant tomorrow. Grass withers, flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord remains forever….
God, help us to grow in our understanding of your Word. Let us see how incredibly relevant it is to a lost and dying world. And help us to speak without fear and with much relevance, love, and care.