I was eating lunch at a local restaurant. On the wall beside where I sat, I saw these words: “Adapt; don’t conform.” As I viewed those words, I thought about the message of the gospel for today. We must not conform to this world but make the gospel relevant to the world of today.
The world we live in today is substantially different from the world that existed during the first century. That’s when the records of our Lord’s teachings and the writings of the apostles were penned. Some churchgoers and some non-churchgoers argue that the Bible is old school. Some even say we can’t live for God today as Jesus and the apostles taught and wrote that believers should. They say that was then and this is now.
What some of these people are saying, in effect, is that we must modify the gospel to fit the times. To that I say, the truths of the gospel are forever. They apply to all generations. What Jesus said to those who lived during the times of His public ministry He says to us today.
But—however—we must make the gospel relevant to the world of today. For instance, God’s standard of living for His people is still holiness. We can still live godly lives in an ungodly world. Yes, young boys and girls in the faith can still wait until marriage to have sex. We need not waver on such truths.
Helping the World of Today Make Sense of the Bible
On the other hand, we must understand what time it is. The peer pressure our Christian youths face today is worlds apart from what existed in the days of Jesus’ public ministry. That means we must properly contextualize the message of the gospel.
Many things stated in the Bible, don’t directly apply to us today. But oftentimes, the governing principle still applies. This point speaks to the immutability of God. “I am the Lord; I change not,” He says (Malachi 3:6).
My point is that the people who come to hear those of us who preach the gospel each week live in a world that’s vastly different from that of those who came to hear Jesus preach. We must not stick our heads in the sand. Rather, we must stay abreast of the world that we live in today. And we must seek to hear God on how to speak to that world of today through biblical truths. That is, if we want to have a message that’s relevant to the people God blesses us to ministry to.
The question churchgoers are asking us is, what does your message mean to me. How do I apply the biblical truths you are sharing today in my world when I leave here?
The truths of the gospel have never changed and never will. By contrast, the world we live in is always changing and always will. We must know how to use the former to speak to the latter. If we don’t, the message of the church will not be relevant to the world of today.
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.