I. What does it mean to 'Be Relevant'?
3 Scenarios:
1. Flat tire, car pulls up & comes out w/ jumper cables - are jumper cables relevant? Are ju. ca. important? sure just not now
2. Previous week b4 your flat tire - your office offered an optional course on tire-changing tech.and roadside safety - the week b4 your car broke down how relevant would that class have been? How motivated would you have been to sign-up and stand out in the wet air & cold wind watching someone chan-tire
3. On the roadside w/ flat tire at night - car pulls up behind you & out jump 3 big, nasty guys speaking a foreign lang. - in that moment your concern changes doesn’t it? 30 sec. b4 your concern was, “Oh no you got a flat tire” & suddenly you got a new concern.
As we think about these different scenarios, ask yourself, what makes a relevant envior? What makes something relevant?
When we look at the world today, what we may believe is absolutely irrelevant was at some point & time very relevant.
(examples - it’s hard for us to imagine that at one time)
here’s the deal - Relevance is a moving target
Scripture isn’t, theology isn’t, but relevance is a moving target.
Our methods must change, but the message stays the same. (able to extract methodology from theology)
Being Relevant is adjusting to your surroundings to share God's message.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessing.”
Elements of Relevance
1. Culture and stage of life determines what is appealing
what’s going on around you - what’s current - pop cul; marketplace cul; bus. cul. that’s what’s appealing to the vast maj.
Jesus always did this - He pointed out something familar, something current, “ A man had 2 sons”... “look at this fig tree”
what’s going on around you - SoL, it’s diff. for an adult and a child - don’t ask a 50yr. to sit on floor and dont give a 5y. coffee.
2. Relationships are crucial
My relationships create my opportunities
we have diff. levels of relationships; close, kinda close, friends...
It is in these relation. that we can share what God has done in our lives (testimony)- so we need to cultivate these relation. - talked about 2 weeks ago - My relationships create my opportunities here we talk about Invest and Invite
3. Presentation determines interest
How we make the presentation matters. (eating out - 3 meats, beef, chix, fish - the diff. isn’t, “oh I’m tired of those 3 meats what else do you have” no when you look down the menu you look at how they’re presented. The meat is the meat, chix is chix is chix,
but there’s dozens of ways to do chix. & it’s the presentation that creates the interest, it’s not the chix.
It is not enough to present Truth
It is the pres. of the Word that makes it interesting - that’s not what makes it relevant but makes it interesting - hey David kills Goliath everytime you read it right? I dont even wanna hear another version of the story, “hey could you change it up a bit, we heard that you know?”
There’s people who can talk about David killing Gol. and you’re like uh-huh, but then there’s people who can talk about David killing Gol. and you feel the sweat dripping down Gol. whoa what’s the diff. it’s not the story - it’s the pres.
So when you see Uncle Bill every Holiday season and as you approach him, are his thoughts, “Oh no, here he comes or here she comes again, same o, same o story about Jesus”
and we’re boring them with the greatest story ever told
Truth is always relevant, but,Truth is not always perceived as relevant
We must become experts at helping people see relevant things as relevant things - this is a problem we have w/ our teens
Our task is to present Truth in such a way that people are forced to recognize and _feel_ the relevance.
This requires an engaging and creative presentation
Why is this so important that we are examining this in such detail? B/c in our relationships, (church) as we cultivate those and become comfortable w/ one another we tend to get very lax and in a rut w/ them that nothing new ever develops and we get to a point of, “we’ll they’ve heard that so... skip it”
chix is chix is chix, it’s the presentation that matters.
If our pres. isn’t engaging it isn’t interesting, if it’s not interesting then Truth is going to be perceived as irrelevant BUT Truth isn’t irrelevant, but the un-engaging pres. makes it feel irrelevant
4. Content determines relevance
Here at the church, Eric, myself, Cathleen, or others
We could be engaging and interesting and fun, humorous, telling great stories but if it’s not helpful then people walk away w/, “well I had a good time but I really didn’t get anything out of that”
Is it helpful?
Let me ask you, when you are in convo. w/ others, do they leave that convo. w/ you never thinking about it again. or...
Do you leave them w/ something, somewhere in the beg. or middle or end of the convo. do you leave them w/ something that they ponder on again? Something you said, maybe even in a nonchalant way, that they think about again.
I don’t know how many times Cathleen and I have left meetings, churches, seminars, and so forth, and we looked at each other and say, “I didn’t get anything out of that”
Has that ever happened to you?
We think, “what a waste of our time”
It is something we give a great deal of thought to here at FOCUS* - we never want people leaving thinking, “we had fun, it was interesting, we met some great people, but quite frankly I can’t remember why or what reason we were even there for to begin with - I didn’t come away with anything”
It must be helpful!
So... what must we present here and what is the content that we want to leave our friends, our family members, co-workers, in the conversations we have during the holidays or at the water cooler, what is the content? What is helpful?
God’s Word
The Truth, God’s Word is the content.
God’s Word is relevant for today. That is what we want to leave with others as much as we can.
So can you see how this all ties together?
What does it mean to be relevant?
“I have become all things to all men so that by all
possible means I might save some” 1 Corinthians 9:22
Being Relevant is Adjusting to your surroundings to share
God's message.
What makes my surroundings appealing? Culture
My relationships create my opportunities
My pres. must be engaging and interesting
and
It’s the content, God’s Word that determines the relevance
It may not be perceived that way so we must bring to the table something that is helpful, something worth remembering -
We can find that in God’s Word.
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