“Consider the cost of taking this radically scriptural Christianity seriously. Ask yourself which side you must join in the tense spiritual battle of our times. Compromise is not an option. A middle-of-the-road stance is not possible. Either the ground motive of the christian religion works radically in our lives or we serve other gods. If the antithesis is too radical for you, ask yourself whether a less radical Christianity is not like salt that has lost its savour. I state the antithesis as radically as I do so that we may again experience the full double-edged sharpness and power of God’s Word. You must experience the antithesis as a spiritual storm that strikes lightning into your life and that clears the sultry air. If you do not experience it as a spiritual power requiring the surrender of your whole heart, then it will bear no fruit in your life. Then you will stand apart from the great battle the antithesis always instigates. You yourself cannot wage this battle. Rather, the spiritual dynamic of the Word of God wages the struggle in us and pulls us along despite our ‘flesh and blood.'”

I learned a long time ago as a Christian minister that I can’t hope to out-cool our apostate culture, and if I try, I’ll gradually create followers who crave coolness and will gravitate to a “community” cooler than mine.

I learned also, however, that while I can’t hope to compete with our cool culture, that culture couldn’t compete with a churchly culture of Biblical truth, Gospel reality, and holy living. After all, if our apostate culture could compete with such a church, it wouldn’t be apostate.

So, I learned by God’s patient, illuminating grace, that if I preach the Bible (the entire Bible) with Holy Spirit power, theological richness, and moral imperatives; spearhead an evangelistic message that refuses to separate salvation from discipleship; inspire prayer in which believers pour out their souls to God in expectation of his answers; administer baptism and communion to families and individuals with stress on both the goodness and severity of God; encourage content-rich music both older and newer that brings honor and glory to the Triune God; foster self-sacrifice among the saints; and, most importantly, lead the congregation to understand and act on the fact that everything flows from worship — I learned, I say, that if I can do these things, God will bless me and bring sinners and saints who long for the un-cool, Triune God.

I learned that if my church is right with God, it doesn’t need to be cool.