Articles
In Defense of Plain Speaking (2)
“We must relate the gospel to the culture” is a common expressed maxim. On the surface it sounds sensible, for it seems axiomatic that if the culture can’t understand what the Christian is saying, it will have no further interest. Over the past decades in denominations, and more recently among faithful churches, there has been great stress placed on the unbeliever who may visit our worship. “Don’t offend”; “don’t preach on controversial subjects”; “dumb it down”; “don’t use jargon”; etc. In fact, I was told by a fellow preacher one time that “if a visitor walks into the worship, he/she becomes the most important person in the building.” I took issue with his viewpoint then; I still do.
Consider the following observations on bending the gospel to “connect” with the culture (quotations from The Culture is Overrated, William Willimon, 9/20/2011, from www.stertin.wordpress.com) :
1) “In leaning over to speak to the modern world, I fear we may have fallen in … The Bible doesn’t want to speak to the modern world; the Bible wants to convert the modern world.”
Comment: It is easy to confuse “relate to” with “convert.” It is not approval or respectability we should be seeking; the gospel will never be popular (“because you are not of the world … the world hates you,” Jn 15:19). The gospel is confrontational, demanding repentance and change. This is a violent collision that we cannot soften for the sake of “connecting.”
2) “When we speak of reaching out to our culture through the gospel, we must be reminded that the gospel is also a culture. In the attempt to ‘translate’ the gospel into the language of the culture, something is lost. We are learning that you have not said ‘salvation’ when you say ‘self-esteem.’ ‘The American Way’ is not equivalent to ‘the kingdom of God’ … Christianity is a distinct culture with its own vocabulary, grammar, and practices. Too often, when we try to speak to our culture, we merely adopt the culture of the moment rather than present the gospel to the culture.”
Comment: Attempts to change our thoughts and ideals by altering the language abound. We recently wrote about “conscious uncoupling” for divorce, but also reframing abortion as “choice,” homosexuality as “gay” and numerous other examples should warn us of the danger of monkeying with Biblical nomenclature. We must take care to retain the meaning of the gospel, even if we are trying to put it in terms that the unsaved can understand. At some point, a sinner must come to terms with the fact that he is … a sinner. No gently-applied lipstick can pretty-up that pig.
3) “Our time as preachers is better spent acculturating modern, late-twentieth-century Americans into that culture called church … This is why the concept of ‘user-friendly’ churches often leads to churches getting used. There is no way I can crank the gospel down to the level where any American can walk in off the street and know what it is all about within 15 minutes. One can’t do that even with baseball!”
Comment: Amen!
