For the past three months or so I have read an appropriate quote right before I led the congregation in corporate prayer. I used the quote to focus my prayer on something specific, real and Gospel-centered. My hope is to make the 'Pastoral Prayer' [read that with the proper basso profundo voice] a bit more real. Here's tomorrow's quote:
According to Jesus, Christianity is not cool.
There, I said it.
I’ll even go a step farther: if what’s fashionable in our society interests you, then true Christianity won’t. It’s that simple.
Think about it. Jesus said some pretty unfashionable stuff. If you want to live, you must die. If you want to find your life you must lose it. He talked about self-sacrifice and bearing crosses and suffering and death and the dangers of riches. He talked about the need to lay down our lives for those who hate us and hurt us. He talked about serving instead of being served, about seeking last place and not first. He talked of gouging out our eyes and cutting off our hands if they cause us to sin.
He was making the profound point that daily Christian living means daily Christian dying—dying to our fascination with the sizzle of this world and living for something bigger, something thicker, something eternal. Jesus calls his people to live for what is timeless and not trendy, to take up the cross and follow him, even when it means going against social norms.
Of course, all this is flat-out uncool in a world that idolizes what ever cultural craze is in style, whatever is fashionable.
According to Jesus, Christianity is not cool.
There, I said it.
I’ll even go a step farther: if what’s fashionable in our society interests you, then true Christianity won’t. It’s that simple.
Think about it. Jesus said some pretty unfashionable stuff. If you want to live, you must die. If you want to find your life you must lose it. He talked about self-sacrifice and bearing crosses and suffering and death and the dangers of riches. He talked about the need to lay down our lives for those who hate us and hurt us. He talked about serving instead of being served, about seeking last place and not first. He talked of gouging out our eyes and cutting off our hands if they cause us to sin.
He was making the profound point that daily Christian living means daily Christian dying—dying to our fascination with the sizzle of this world and living for something bigger, something thicker, something eternal. Jesus calls his people to live for what is timeless and not trendy, to take up the cross and follow him, even when it means going against social norms.
Of course, all this is flat-out uncool in a world that idolizes what ever cultural craze is in style, whatever is fashionable.
Tullian Tchividjian
Pastor of Coral Ridge PCA
Pastor of Coral Ridge PCA
Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different
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