The problem with Relevance;

Recently my 20 something son and I were at lunch and the subject came up concerning being relevant to the unbelieving world around us. He adamantly rejects any form or substance of what he considers the old fashioned ways of doing or being Church in favor of Donald Miller's concepts of being relevant or being just like the World so we can reach them more easily. This all sounds good in concept, so does communism, but the error is in it's short sightedness. Just as in communism, any society void of God is doomed to failure and any evangelistic effort apart from the Holiness and truth of God is doomed to failure. The thing he fails to see is that it is not our language or lack of it, (worldly dialog, ie: foul language in our Christian movies which make it appear more real and streetwise to be relevant to the masses) or our attempts to be just like them so as not to offend or appear holier than thou. The truth is that no matter how you package it when you get to the Cross it will cause offense. Because it is the Cross that men and women can not deal with in their unregenerate lifestyles. We should know because we were all there once and it was not how the gospel packaged that made the difference but the inner working of the Holy Spirit to bring us to repentance and the need for our Savior. So, we can package it however we want but it will always come down to Jesus and his suffering on our behalf that will bring relevance for this life to a lost and dying world.