9.25.06 - Trends and Traps (cont. 3)
Aside from church models and preferences, we must realize that the answer does not lie with function. The end of all things is not contemporary or traditional; the end of all things is the person you once met on a dusty road at an allegorical well outside of Sychar; how you wrap Him is secondary – it is preference.
We’ve wrapped the gospel in a rational theory. We need to know Christ, not the scriptures; but we must know the scriptures in order to know Christ. However, knowledge of the scriptures will never save you – that will never get you to heaven. “The deepest meaning of the Bible is Christ; He is the Bible’s message. The Bible’s ultimate message is not its many narratives, poetry, discourse, and history; it is the person of the Savior.”
We must take a serious look at our market strategy and not only question its effectiveness but its existence. “The church is made up of sinners, not consumers… ‘Relevancy’ is defined by the amelioration of urgent negative felt-needs and the quest for the fulfillment of immediate desires and pleasure. The trendy is temporally superficial.
While convinced that the great issues of “eternal” are too politically challenging to mention, we must in our churches articulate a worldview that has the triune God at the center and is fleshed out in a joyous countercultural life. “Do not give people something to do, give them someone in whom to believe.”
Our response is this: we must become and create “servants” not “servant-leaders.” Christ modeled servitude above all, and in that He modeled love. We must believe that it is better to be timeless than contemporary. We must believe that the Bible alone is relevant. We must enforce Christ centered theology and a love for God and love for neighbor. We must mobilize people with clarity and purpose. We must do this creatively, not culturally.
“Our treasure is the gospel, and our privilege is the proclamation of that gospel.”
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