Should We Be Relevant?

" So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you." (Acts 17:22, 23, ESV)

I am working on my Sunday sermon today and I have been researching and praying through Acts 17:16-34 and my "overall" theme is Christianity and relevancy. Is it important for believers and/or the Church to be relevant? Was Paul using relevance in his preaching to the Athenians or was he merely giving a "fluffy" message to the Athenians?

Personally I feel Paul was setting an example for how we are to engage non Christian individuals. In my studies I came across a quote from John Stott where he writes, "There is an urgent need for more Christian thinkers who will dedicate their minds to Christ, not only as lecturers, but also as authors, journalists, dramatists and broadcasters, as television script writers, producers and personalities, and as artists and actors who use a variety of art forms in which to communicate the gospel."

Christians need to engage in culture so we can spread the gospel of Christ to the world yet we must be careful not to embrace the culture forcing us to compromise our walks with Jesus Christ. Ajith Fernando in his commentary on Acts writes, "What is most important is faithfully proclaiming the gospel. If we can find points of contact withour audience along the way, we should use them, but the gospel is always what is primary." In other words, if you can engage a non-believer in a conversation and use culture as a means to share the gospel message then go for it. However we must not compromise the biblical message of salvation for the sake of relevancy.

Random thought: Go out in the world and find "creative" ways to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ but remember to always communicate the truth of Scripture without compromise.